Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Mounting bills give R&B officials the jitters

VIJAYAWADA: The mounting bills of contractors who completed works in the district are giving anxious moments to officials of the Roads and Buildings (R&B) department. The State government has to release more than Rs. 60 crores for the works that have either been completed or are in progress.

The officials now fear that it will have a cascading effect on works that are proposed or yet to be executed. The contractors “may not be in a hurry to execute the works” as they have nine months to complete them as per the agreement. The works will be executed as and when the bills are cleared, officials feel.

SR works

According to information, the R&B completed special repair (SR) works to the tune of Rs. 28 crores by mid 2010. The bills ought to have been released by July. These works were taken up following Laila cyclone, which damaged roads in the district in May last. The R&B repaired a road network of 180 km spending about Rs. 28 crores in the district.

Now, the R&B district unit has commenced repair of roads damaged in the recent heavy rain. The officials have prepared proposals for as many as 133 works estimated to cost Rs. 8.83 crores.

This apart, the R&B has taken up repair of 12 roads at an estimated cost of Rs.1 crore each. Of this, work on five roads like Nuzvid-Eluru, Chevitikallu-Vatsavai has been completed, while Sivapuram and MNK road works are in progress.

The department has also taken up repair of roads in seven Assembly segments in the district. These include M.V. Road-Srikakulam-Mantada, Vadlamannadu-Pedalanka and Noble College road in Machilipatnam. All these are expected to be complete by this fiscal year. The State government, however, has not released any amount for these works, sources say.

The Centre, which is expected to sanction funds for repair of roads damaged due to cyclones, has not released any amount. On top of it, the Centre has put restrictions on the State government saying that the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) cannot be released for works taken up in Krishna district.

It has suggested to the State government to bear the expenditure for the repair of roads. The State government, thereafter, has not taken any decision in this regard.

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