Private consultants hired by the Union Surface Transport Ministry to study the condition of the Kalaburagi-Solapur inter-State highway passing through Afzalpur, which has been now declared as a national highway, and suggest ways to improve it, has found fault with the material used in the existing road length.
Krishnamurthy, representing the Gurgaon-based private consultancy firm, said that the material used in the formation of the road length from Kalaburagi to Chowdapur was below the national highway standards and required strengthening.
He was participating as an invitee in the quarterly review meeting of the vigilance committee chaired by the former Union Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge here on Tuesday.
To a question from Mr. Kharge on whether the declaration of the road as a national highway would be reconsidered now, Mr. Krishnamurthy said the consultancy had been mandated to study the condition of the road and even if the traffic congestion was low, the inter-State connectivity and its economic importance would be the major concern of the government.
K-SHIP, which executed the Kalaburagi-Chowdapur Road with World Bank assistance had claimed that the road was of national highway standards and the officials of the National Highway Division who are constructing the Chowdapur-Afzalpur Road had claimed that it was being relaid as per national highway norms.
