State Roads Need Repair: LSP

The Lok Satta Party, on Wednesday, demanded that the government undertake road repair works on a war footing by allocating at least Rs. 1,000 crore immediately.

Party spokesperson Katari Srinivasa Rao and Yuva Satta State Vice-President P Sivaji told media persons that state highways and major district roads, of a length of at least 12,000 km of the total 42,511 km, are extensively damaged. They claimed that of these roads, roads of upto a length of 5,000 km - 6,000 km are unfit for travel.

While road restoration works alone cost Rs. 3,000 crore, the state government has allocated only Rs. 750 crore to the Roads and Buildings Department during 2010-11.

The crater-filled roads are breaking the backs of passengers, damaging vehicles, and resulting in frequent traffic jams and fuel wastage, Lok Satta leaders said. More than 2 crore people in the state travel by road in about 78 lakh vehicles, to a distance of 25 crore km every day, they said.

They pointed out that the government has not been strictly enforcing conditions under which contractors who build roads like those between Kurnool and Kadapa, and Eluru and Rajamundry have to undertake their maintenance too.

The state government, the Lok Satta leaders said, is guilty of even diverting grants under Central Road Funds for building new roads instead of maintaining roads linking rural and urban areas.

Roads are getting damaged in the wake of heavy rains this year because quality standards are not maintained when they are initially laid. The meagre funds allocated for repairs are squandered away on patchworks.

Courtesy: INN