The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Rs. 226 crore released for repairs to rural roads

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Friday, Dec 12, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Rs. 226 crore released for repairs to rural roads

Special Correspondent

Authorities told to complete works by February

Zilla panchayats directed to invite tenders before December-end
Contractors have been warned against
sub-contracting works

BANGALORE: The State Government has released Rs. 226.55 crore to zilla panchayats for taking up repairs to rural roads, and the local authorities have been directed that the work be completed by February.

Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Shobha Karandlaje said zilla panchayats had been asked to invite tenders for roadworks before December-end.

The panchayats had also been categorically told that they would not be permitted to utilise the funds in March. The contractors had been warned against sub-contracting works.

The panchayats will take up works of rural roads of 67,000 km in all districts and each district will get an average Rs. 11 crore. If complaint of any inferior quality work is reported, then the Government has decided to ask the same contractor to repair the road. Ms. Karandlaje said that only 60 per cent of the villages were connected by all-weather roads and the rest by fair weather, kutcha and non-motorable roads. As of 2005-06, of a total road length of 1.7 lakh km in the State, only 31 per cent is motorable, and of this only 18 per cent has been asphalted. Major district roads and rural roads form bulk of the road length and the entire State has poor coverage of both national and State highways. While the national highways constituted 2.4 per cent of the total road length, State highways constitute around 10.3 per cent of total road length.

The Minister said the Government had also released Rs. 818 crore for drinking water works in rural areas of the State. The money would be utilised for drilling borewells, laying water pipes and supply of surface water to villages.

The Government had submitted a Rs. 900-crore proposal to the Centre seeking funds under the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission. The Centre is expected to clear the proposal soon, she said.

Asked about a link road developed to connect a temple at Talakadu in Mysore district, the Minister said Rs. 40 crore had been spent on the road last year. But its condition was bad now. The Government was planning to order a probe into the execution of the work by a contractor.

Stating that frequent movement of trucks carrying sand was one of the reasons for the bad condition of the road, Ms. Karandlaje said trucks carrying a load of more than 10 tonnes would not be allowed after the completion of roadwork on this particular stretch.

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