Karnataka - Raichur   

Who will do up this road now?

Bumpy ride:Vehicles have a tough time crossing the railway underpass on the Raichur-Hyderabad State Highway on the outskirts of Raichur.

Raichur: Since the start of the monsoon, almost all roads here in Raichur city have become unmotorable. Lack of maintenance, digging up of roads by various departments and overflowing underground drains have caused havoc.

Commuters have an especially tough time crossing the underpass on the Raichur-Hyderabad State Highway near Cotton township on the outskirts of the city.

About 100 m of this road was left unattended when the 210-km Shakthinagar-Budgumpa road via Raichur was upgraded under the World Bank project four years ago.

The department concerned had left this stretch undone as authorities of South Central Railway, Secunderabad, asked it to tackle the stretch only after the completion of an overpass there.

However, although the work on the overpass was completed a year ago, no measures have been initiated to upgrade the remaining stretch of the road.

Enough funds

The district administration and the city municipality have claimed that there is no dearth of funds for improving facilities in the city. Recently, Raichur received Rs. 30 crore from the Chief Minister's discretionary fund towards development.

But the lack of coordination between the district administration and the City Municipal Council has affected spending towards the improvement of roads and drains in and around the city.

The maintenance of some stretches of roads in the city comes under the supervision of the zilla panchayat and the Public Works Department. However, both these bodies have seldom exercised their responsibility in the improvement of roads.

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Who will do up this road now?

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