India’s infrastructure ambitions have always been central to its growth strategy, with public-private partnerships playing a pivotal role in delivering roads, airports, and urban transport systems. Yet, these projects are increasingly encountering public backlash—ironically, not always because of poor quality or flawed policy, but often due to missteps in execution, planning, and public engagement.Three issues currently dominating social media outrage point to this growing trust deficit: extended tolling on national highways, the concreting of roads in Mumbai, and user development fees at airports. The airport surcharge merits separate attention, but the first two expose a troubling pattern where otherwise sound initiatives have been derailed by opacity, inadequate communication, and weak oversight.
.png)
