The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Road repair works face fund crunch

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Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Road repair works face fund crunch

M.L. Melly Maitreyi

About 2,440 km of road surface disfigured across nine districts due to heavy rain

Rs 400 crore required to make roads motorable and ease traffic interruptions
Major restoration of road surface may not be possible in near future

HYDERABAD: The recent rain has taken a heavy toll of roads in at least nine districts and will cost the exchequer over Rs. 400 crore to make them motorable and ease traffic interruptions.

Nearly 2,440 km of road surface has been disfigured by rain in Warangal, Khammam, Adilabad, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Nalgonda, Srikakulam and Ranga Reddy besides causing damage to culverts, causeways and road margins. Roads in Krishna district suffered the maximum damage followed by Warangal, Khammam and West Godavari.

Temporary repairs

The Roads and Building Department has swung into action, taking up temporary restoration works on the rain-battered roads by identifying the damaged stretches and estimated the requirement at Rs.38 crore for temporary repairs and Rs.361 crore for permanent restoration under flood damage repair funds from the Centre. Priority is being given to clear traffic interruptions caused by overflows/breaches with the department funds, said Engineer-in-Chief N. Ramarao.

The major restoration of road surface, however, may not be possible in the near future given the fund crunch in the department.

Priority allocation

With crop damage and other sectors getting priority in allocation of funds, the requirement for roads had been taking a backseat over the years. Last year, the department spent Rs.88 crore on flood repairs, while the Centre gave only Rs.10 crore.

Quality affected

The cumulative shortfall of additional funds to carry out comprehensive repairs is telling on the quality of roads in several districts, more so when heavy rain lashes the State. With no additional aid from the Centre, the department has to make do by diverting part of the budgetary grant meant for maintenance of 63,000 km of roads under its control. This apparently forces the department to compromise on the regular maintenance which again makes the roads prone to further damage.

The department--which gets Rs.67 crore for maintenance of the State Highways and Rs.500 crore for district roads a year--has been submitting revised estimates for increased allocation without success.

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