Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran has said the Finance Department has given special sanction to 405 road works costing ₹900 crore spread over 140 constituencies in the State.
In a statement here on Saturday, Mr. Sudhakaran, who has been going all out to infuse transparency in his department’s functioning, said that special sanction had been given on the basis of the assurances given by Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac to legislators on the floor of the House during the previous Assembly session.
Mr. Sudhakaran had requested all legislators, through email and letters, to submit their proposals months before as part of the department’s attempts to implement projects in a transparent and zero-corruption environment.
The department engineers were asked to scrutinise the proposals in a time-bound manner. These projects were then given administrative sanction to prepare the ground for fund allocation.
The Minister said he had given special sanction for 141 road works costing Rs.171 crore over and above the fresh allocation of Rs.900 crore. His department had issued sanction for 545 road works worth Rs.1,071 crore as per the budget allocation.
He said the department had taken up road repairs worth Rs.386 crore during the current financial year. He had issued instructions to engineers to take quick decisions on technical sanctions, tendering the work so that work could be launched ahead of the conclusion of the financial year next month.
While replying to the debate on the demands for grants for his department and also during the debate on the appropriation bill, Mr. Sudhakaran and Dr. Isaac were flooded with requests from legislators seeking allocation for various road works in their respective constituencies.
The special sanction, according to sources, would enable the department to take up work this financial year itself.
