Fund crunch hits R&B roads badly

Paucity of funds in the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department seems to have badly hit the maintenance of the road network in Krishna district. Nearly half of the R&B roads “need to be repaired immediately,” officials concerned admit.

Sources in the department admit that ‘renewal' (re-laying) works have not been taken up in the district for more than five years though it is mandatory. The department maintains a road network of 2,944 km in the district. Of this, 1,365 km of length needs to be renewed. The department has not taken up the works for more than six years as the State government has not been releasing funds for the purpose. The R&B is supposed to renew the roads once in every five years. The department requires Rs.374 crores to renew these “ripe” roads, the officials say.

It is not just the roads, but bridges too are in bad condition. The department has not taken any initiative to construct bridges at many places in the district. Local people still rely on the old bridges that are in a dilapidated condition. As many as 30 bridges across the district need to be replaced with new ones. Most of the bridges were constructed 50 to 60 years ago. All these bridges are either weak or narrow.

“If not now, these bridges need to be condemned in the next five years. The department requires Rs. 177 crores to construct new bridges at 30 places,” official sources say.

Staggering amount

The department in Krishna district requires a staggering amount of Rs. 551 crores to take up renewal and construction of new bridges. The officials sent proposals to the State government to this effect recently. They, however, are sceptical about release of funds as the budget of the department is not likely to allow this. They feel that the State government should release at least Rs. 60 crores a year to take up renewal of roads so that the network of 1,365 km could be renewed in the next five years. This apart, the government should release funds for construction of the new bridges.

The government has, so far, been releasing funds only for taking up repairs. The department completed repairs under Special Repair (SR) works to the tune of Rs. 28 crores by mid-2010, and completed repairs of road network of 180 km spending about Rs. 28 crores in Krishna district. The roads were damaged in Laila cyclone and recent heavy rains.