The foundation stone for the proposed 53-km long railway line between Kothagudem in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district and Sattupalli in Khammam district will be laid by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao soon, said Minister for Roads and Buildings Tummala Nageswara Rao.
The proposal to lay railway line between the coal mining hub of Kothagudem and the coal town of Sattupalli has already been approved by the Centre. The proposed 53-km railway line is estimated to cost around ₹704 crore. Mr. Rao was speaking at the Independence Day celebrations at the Police Parade Grounds here after hoisting the national tricolour on Tuesday.
Road widening
On road infrastructure development, he said about 222 km length of State roads between Suryapet-Khammam, Kodad-Khammam and Khammam-Aswaraopet passing through the district have been classified as national highways. With the release of ₹1700 crore, work on widening these roads is set to begin shortly, he said.
An amount of ₹1601 crore had been sanctioned to widen about 1713 km length of roads and construction of bridges to improve road connectivity between all the mandal headquarters and the district headquarters as well as the district headquarters town and the State capital Hyderabad.
Listing out TRS government’s welfare schemes, he said around 2670 of the total 8600 two-bed room housing units sanctioned to the district are under various stages of construction in the district.
Works worth ₹ 1831 crore had been taken up under the Mission Bhagiratha, the drinking water supply project, across the district. The works are progressing at a brisk pace to provide piped drinking water to every household within the stipulated time-frame, he asserted.
Lift irrigation
In Bhadradri-Kothagudem district, Minister for Prohibition and Excise T. Padma Rao hoisted the national flag at an impressive I-Day ceremony held at Pragathi Maidan in Kothagudem on Tuesday.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Padma Rao said the State government has accorded top priority to expeditiously complete the proposed Sitarama Lift Irrigation Project at an estimated cost of ₹7926 crore to irrigate around 9.36 lakh acres in Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Khammam and Mahabubabad districts.
The project envisaging optimum utilisation of Godavari waters is intended to extend the irrigation cover to every acre of agricultural land in the three districts.
Gurukul school
He said a model residential school christened Ekalavya gurukul school will start functioning at Gandugulapalli next week.
Another Ekalavya residential school will be set up in Palvancha for the benefit of tribal children. Government degree colleges have been set up one each in Aswaraopeta and Manugur. Four Minority Residential Schools have been opened two each for boys and girls in the current academic year in the district. He dwelt at length on various welfare and development initiatives of the State government in tribal sub-plan mandals of the district.
