Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Road repairs within a month

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Government had taken all steps necessary to complete repair of major roads in one month, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac told the Assembly on Monday.

Opposing an adjournment motion sought to be moved K. Babu (Congress) and others in the Opposition, Dr. Isaac said the repair work had already begun and that the Government had given administrative sanction for works costing Rs.110 crore. Administrative sanction for more works would be issued in the coming three days and all the works would begin in a week’s time, he added.

The Finance Minister said the roads had fallen into serious disrepair following failure of the contractors to honour their commitments. In case the big contractors, who had taken up large stretches as part of various projects, were unable to do the work, the Government would consider relaxing the prequalification norms and allow smaller contractors to do the jobs, he said.

Earlier, Mr. Babu said travel through the roads in Kerala had become a nightmarish experience. The situation had become serious on account of the Finance Department’s refusal to release funds on time. Dr. Isaac replied that the Government could do only very little in the matter as several works had been sanctioned during the time of the UDF Government without following proper procedures.

This had resulted in heavy arrears in payments to the contractors and some of them had left the work half way through. Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy said the Opposition had no objection to any irregularity being investigated. The LDF Government had so far sanctioned work costing Rs.223 crore without observing procedures properly despite its allegation that its predecessor had sanctioned work costing Rs.290 crore in the same manner, he pointed out.

Dr. Isaac replied that there were provisions in the PWD manual for waiver of tender and other norms if the situation so warranted, but this did not mean that the Public Works Minister could award work as he pleased.

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