Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy took the officials of GHMC, R&B and other departments to task for the bad roads in the twin cities and demanded that they draw up a comprehensive action plan within a week.
“Why are the roads getting damaged after each rain? Why is this happening again and again? What are you doing to do solve this problem?” he asked the officials at a meeting in the Secretariat on Friday.
Mr. Reddy called for road repairs on a war-footing and said funds would not be a constraint. The GHMC was instructed to coordinate with all the departments including the Water Board to take up the works.
“It cannot go on like this. If Delhi roads are good, why can’t Hyderabad roads be the same?” he wondered.
The Chief Minister lamented the lack of commitment and supervision and improper planning for the present road conditions. He wanted officials to prioritise roads according to the traffic requirements and population to come out with a plan to lay all weather-proof roads using the best material plus maintaining the required ‘camber’ (sloping towards ends) conditions.
Civic officials blamed the excessive rains and inundations for the extensive damage to roads.
They claimed that water stagnation points had been identified, profile corrections were being made and storm water drains were being built underneath and on the sides. Re-carpeting would be done once the camber correction was made, they said.
Roads were also getting damaged because of sewer overflows and water leakages at many places together with road cuttings by the utility departments.
Officials also stated that since the monsoon was in progress, the repairs were being done according to the requirement. Permanent measures of black topping the roads would be taken up after the rains.
Mr. Reddy said he would hold another meeting next week and wanted the action plan to be ready by then.
Ministers — J. Geetha Reddy, Mukesh Goud and D. Nagender —, Chief Secretary P.K. Mohanty and senior officials S.K. Joshi, M.T. Krishna Babu, Shyamala Rao, Premchandra Reddy and others were present.
