K Venkateshwarlu
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s visit to Delhi on Tuesday with a wish list concerning Telangana’s road and highway projects yielded positive results, with the Centre removing hurdles for declaring the southern part of Regional Ring Road (the 182-km Choutuppal-Amangal-Shadnagar-Rangareddy stretch) as national highways.
The fresh approvals build on the recent announcement of the northern part of RRR as national highways. This follows Revanth Reddy’s request to Union Minister for Road Transport and National Highways Nitin Gadkari to upgrade the southern part of RRR as national highways.
Soon after the meeting, the Union Minister instructed officials of the National Highways Authority of India to prepare proposals to declare the southern section of RRR as national highways.
Revanth Reddy appealed to Nitin Gadkari to also grant permission for expansion of the national highways in Telangana and for upgrading important state highways to national highways.
The Chief Minister handed over to the Union Minister a list of state roads that could be expanded as national highways in the state and explained the importance of declaring those roads as national highways.
Revanth Reddy met the Union Minister at the latter’s official residence on Tuesday afternoon in New Delhi. During the meeting, which lasted more than one and half hours, the Chief Minister brought to the attention of the Union Minister the challenges the state had been facing with regard to the expansion of national highways and national highway works in the state.
Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka, State Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, R and B Secretary Srinivasa Raju and Telangana Bhavan (New Delhi) Resident Commissioner Gaurav Uppal also participated in the meeting.
The Chief Minister and the Union Minister discussed contentious matters involving the Centre and state government regarding removal of utilities (electricity poles, buildings etc.) in the limits of Ring Road (RRR) northern part covering Choutuppal-Bhuvanagiri-Toopran-Sangareddy-Kandi.
Ten months ago, NHAI officials had suggested that the costs of relocation of utilities should be borne by the state government. The state government, however, did not agree to the NHAI’s stipulation.
Upon assuming charge as CM, Revanth Reddy had sent a letter to the NHAI agreeing to bear the cost of relocation of utilities.
When the Chief Minister mentioned this to Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister pulled up NHAI officials for having asked the state government to bear the costs in the first place. The Union Minister for NHAI pointed out that should the state government bear the cost of relocation of utilities, half the toll revenue would have to be paid to the state government. So, the Centre would bear the cost of relocation of utilities. The Union Minister asked the Chief Minister to speed up the land acquisition and procedural aspects related to the construction of the RRR.
Revanth Reddy requested the Union Minister to also approve the proposal to widen the national highway from Hyderabad to Vijayawada to six lanes and the road from Hyderabad to Kalwakurthy as four-lane one. Nitin Gadkari responded positively to the CM’s requests.
The Union Minister suggested to the Chief Minister to send proposals for grants from CRIF (Construction of Rural Infrastructure Fund).
