Huge Central fund flow for road infra boost

​Hyderabad: Telangana got a windfall under NH projects with Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari agreeing to give nearly Rs 7,250 crore for widening of Regional Ring Roads around Hyderabad under CRF (Central Road Fund).

He made this announcement after laying foundation stone for four NH (National Highways) projects in the State at a programme held in Hyderabad Public School grounds in Ramanthapur on Saturday.

R&B Minister Tummala Nageshwara Rao and MA&UD Minister K T Rama Rao made a mention of these proposals during their speeches after which Gadkari made the announcement.

Sangareddy-Gajwel-Choutuppal (158 km), Choutuppal-Shadnagar-Kandi (205 km) and Madnur-Bodhan-Nizamabad (nearly 70 km) are proposed to be made four-lane highways and the Telangana government sought Central assistance to execute them.

He also gave his nod to extend the Amberpet flyover starting point by 200 metres so that traffic woes at Golnaka could be overcome. The Minister said he was agreeing to MLA G Kishan Reddy’s request in this regard, but land acquisition should be taken care of by the State government.

Gadkari pointed out that under the NDA government, the length of National Highways in Telangana doubled (from 2,500 km to over 5,500 km at present). And this was achieved in just four-year period, he added. Making a mention of Kaleshwaram project, he reminded how he expedited permissions and clearances after Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao met him and explained about the project set to benefit 36 lakh farmers.

Gadkari said coming from a farmer’s family, he very well knew about water woes of farmers. He pointed out that nearly 3,000 TMC ft of Godavari water was going waste into sea and Centre was focusing on tapping it to benefit Telangana, AP, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

The idea was to take water till Cauvery to meet needs of farmers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the two States involved in tussle over sharing of river water, he said. Speaking earlier, Rama Rao sought Centre’s assistance for SRDP (Strategic Road Development Plan), the Telangana government’s flagship programme being taken up with Rs 23,000 crore budget.

He said the State government was proposing to build flyovers, underpasses and grade separators at 54 junctions in Hyderabad to ease traffic woes. Rs 3,000 crore worth of projects had been completed or in different stages of construction while steps were on to start new works worth Rs 4,000 crore under this initiative, Rama Rao said.

He sought Gadkari’s intervention on two SRDP projects in Secunderabad Cantonment area (JBS-Hakimpet Air Force station on Rajiv Rahadari and Patny-Suchitra Junction) that have been stalled due to non-co-operation from Union Defence Ministry. This, even after the State government agreeing to give 600 acres of land in lieu of 100 acres of Defence land, he explained.

Kishan Reddy said Amberpet flyover project was first proposed during Late Y S Rajashekar Reddy’s period as Chief Minister, but it did not go forward afterwards. He thanked Gadkari for approving the project that would benefit the people in his constituency.

Uppal MLA N V S S.Prabhakar thanked Gadkari and Chandrashekar Rao for approving the Rs 1,300 crore worth elevated corridor from Uppal to Narapally.