State sticks to reclassification of NHs, but maintenance may be a big drain

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah says decision not swayed by liquor lobby, but to save outlets, jobs

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council K.S. Eshwarappa and other BJP members staging a walkout after a heated debate over recategorising National Highways into city authority roads, in the Legislative Council on Thursday.

The government’s decision to urge the Centre to reclassify 858 km of national highways (NH) across the State as ‘city authority roads’ to save more than 7,000 liquor outlets from closure is expected to be a big drain on the State’s resources.

Though Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday defended the decision in the Legislative Council claiming the government had not succumbed to the liquor lobby, but was acting in the interests of maintaining these roads well, experts point out that the State may have to incur huge amounts of money on the upkeep of roads.

It is estimated that of the 10,000 liquor outlets in the State, about 7,000 will be affected by the Supreme Court’s directive that all liquor outlets within 500 m from State and NHs be closed. On Wednesday, the State Cabinet decided to write to the Union government to declare NHs that pass through the limits of urban local bodies as city local authority roads. Similar moves have been made by other States, including Maharashtra and Goa.

Sources said that about ₹40,000 is incurred per km annually for minor maintenance of a new road in the first five years after it is laid, and about ₹2 crore to ₹3 crore on major maintenance works after this. “The Centre will be happy to let go of this kind of expenditure if the State wants to take up those roads. Though most parts of the NHs are maintained by the NHAI, the State also looks after certain stretches,” a senior official in the Union Surface Transport Ministry said.

While the Upper House members on Thursday alleged that the government was “succumbing to the liquor lobby”, sources aware of the developments said that many legislators were also opposed to the changes since they believed that maintenance works are carried out more efficiently by the NHAI, and local bodies may not have the resources to maintain these roads at regular intervals.

Saving jobs

However, the Chief Minister said the National and State highways passing through the municipalities, and city corporations are anyway maintained by the urban local bodies. “We are just trying to denotify these roads and hand them over to the local bodies for better maintenance.

In the process, it will also save a lot of these liquor shops on whom scores of people are dependent for jobs,” he said, adding that the government had no intention of circumventing the Supreme Court order.

“The government is not encouraging anyone to drink. But practically, prohibition of alcohol is not a feasible idea,” he said, adding that even Gujarat, where alcohol has been prohibited by the BJP government over the last decade, had not completely curbed alcoholism.

However, unhappy with the response, the Opposition BJP members staged a walkout.

Meanwhile, traffic expert M.N. Srihari said the government should be worried about saving lives on the highways. “Karnataka should not have done this. It should be concerned about motorists and not on the shortfall of excise revenue. Looking at the current state of the State highways, the State government or urban local bodies do not have enough resources to take care of this additional stretches of 858 km.”