As the rains have receded across the State, the government has decided to take up temporary repairs to the roads in rural areas — Panchayat Raj roads — damaged badly by the recent heavy rains.
It has been estimated that Rs. 49.61 crore would be required for taking up temporary repairs to 1,524 roads, running a length of about 1,700 km, that were damaged. Minister for Panchayat Raj Jupally Krishna Rao held a review meeting here on Thursday and asked the officials to take up the repairs on war footing.
Engineer-in-Chief M. Satyanarayana Reddy explained to the Minister that repairs would require funds to the tune of Rs. 49.61 crore and permanent works would require another Rs. 318.58 crore, as per the estimate prepared based on the assessment of the damage. Mr. Rao directed the officials to repair 530 roads that were cut-off in between.
The officials told the Minister that 402 Panchayat Raj roads in Medak, 358 in Nalgonda, 225 in Ranga Reddy, 192 in Mahabubnagar, 53 in Adilabad, 29 in Karimnagar, 91 each in Warangal and Khammam, and 83 83 in Nizamabad district were damaged in the rains.
Besides, 73 buildings of the department were also damaged in the rains, including 41 in Medak and 15 in Mahabubnagar. Temporary repairs to these building would cost Rs. 55 lakh and permanent works would need another Rs. 2.89 crore, the ENC informed.
Remove encroachments
Further, the Mr. Rao directed the officials to remove encroachment of nalas (drains) in the districts without delay, even if it required registering criminal cases against the encroachers. He asked the Commissioner of Panchayat Raj, Anitha Ramachandran, to submit a report on illegal structure and layouts without necessary permissions, particularly in Ranga Reddy district, within 10 days.
