Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

This road in need of funds

G. V. Ramana Rao

Road-users baffled by incomplete works after conversion of a canal

SCLEROSIS OF A BYPASS!: The damaged Pantakalava road in Vijayawada . Photo: Ch. Vijayabhaskar

VIJAYAWADA: It is a case of the cure being worse than the disease. The closing of the heavily silted Pantakalava (irrigation canal) to form a road from the Patamata NTR statue centre directly into Autonagar and leaving it incomplete is baffling road users. Meant to be a bypass, the incomplete road has become like a sclerotic blood vessel and heartache to all who use it. The wide gravel road is not fit for driving heavy vehicles, but has become the ideal parking lot for them. The desolate road has also become the preferred place for bars. At least three bar-cum-restaurants are making big bucks and they owe it to their exclusively vantage location on this road.

A double road with central lighting and a divider with greenery was conceived at an estimated cost of Rs 2.13 crores for providing relief to traffic congestion on National Highway no. 9 from Benz Circle to the Autonagar Gate. The Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri Urban Development Authority (UDA) took the initiative and offered to pay 50 per cent of the cost if the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) was willing to pay the remainder.

Changed situation

The then chairperson, Kolli Sarada, took the initiative and came up with a better proposal by roping in the then Vijayawada MP, Gadde Ramamohan, also.

The MP agreed to meet 30 per cent of the expenditure from his local area development fund (MPLAD) and the VMC was happy to meet the remaining 20 per cent expenditure.

The UDA began work on the 1.6-km-long road raising money from its internal resources.

The municipal corporation paid its share of Rs 66 lakhs to the UDA as its share and an 80-foot gravel road was laid from the NTR Statue Centre directly to the Autonagar 100 feet road bypassing the congested Autonagar gate.

The UDA chairman, Malladi Vishnu, says the UDA has spent its share of Rs 1.065 crores and the VMC's share of Rs 66 lakhs, but at least an additional Rs 60 lakhs is required for completion of the work.

The UDA, which is going through a rough patch, does not have a single rupee to spare. Funds are, however, due from the MPLADs. But, the newly elected Vijayawada MP, Lagadapati Rajagopal, has chosen to distribute the fund to the legislators in his constituency and left the works to be taken up at the discretion of the MLAs. Mr Rajagopal is also not obliged to keep the commitment of a political rival who was vanquished by him at the elections.

The Panta Kalava road lies in the Kankipadu Assembly constituency, but the MLA, Devineni Rajasekhar (Nehru), is also not politically obliged to keep the commitment of his political rivals. The Pantakalava road is the only gravel road in the city that has the distinction of having a central divider with fine greenery and central lighting. Like the road, the divider has also been left incomplete. Until a "stent" is placed allowing free flow of funds, the bypass proposed to reduce congestion on the Machilipatnam road will continue to languish.

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