The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on Friday made it clear that citizens will have to bear with bad roads till November as it will not be able to carry out major repairs or recarpeting thanks to the weather.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, GHMC Mayor Banda Karthika Chandra Reddy and GHMC Commissioner M T Krishna Babu said that the Corporation has identified a total of 3,878 potholes on the 625 kilometres of roads in the GHMC limits caused due to the recent heavy rains.
The GHMC proposes to carry out basic repairs at a cost of Rs. 3 - 4 crore. However, the rest of the work on repairs and re-carpeting of roads will be taken up only during November, at the cost of Rs. 60 crore.
The GHMC Commissioner said that due to technical reasons it was not possible to carry out the repairs on damaged roads immediately, as they would not stand the ongoing rains.
However, the Corporation will carry out the repairs using material from Chudi Bazar Hot-Mix Plant.
Citizens have been asked to inform the GHMC about major potholes, by calling the toll-free number 1530.
Krishna Babu said that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has directed the Roads & Buildings Department to hand over to the Corporation the maintenance of 320 kilometres of its roads under GHMC limits.
He said this would enable the GHMC to get Rs. 21 crore towards maintenance. However, Krishna Babu said the government was contemplating giving the GHMC about Rs. 20-25 crore for the effective maintenance of roads in the city.
Regarding the collapse of a slab of the nala near Fever Hospital, the GHMC Commissioner said that its reconstruction will be started in the next 15-20 days. He said the City Traffic Police has been asked to make proper arrangements to ensure that the GHMC takes up the reconstruction work.
The Commissioner said that the GHMC was making an action plan to centralise the digging of roads in the new colonies. He said all the roads would be dug just once for laying water-supply lines, sewerage pipelines and other purpose.
Moreover, he said the BT roads are likely to last longer.
He said the GHMC was also considering imposing tax on plastic bags being sold to customers at the shopping malls.
GHMC Engineer-in-Chief R Dhan Singh also addressed the media. (INN)