Now, Centre puts spoke in upgrading State highways to NH

Hyderabad: The Central government, not content with depriving Telangana of its rightful funds and sanctioning of projects, is now denying the State of even upgrading State Highways (SH) into National Highways (NH). Statistics say it all. In Uttar Pradesh, 3,630 km of State roads, including SHs, were notified as NHs in the last five years, […]

Hyderabad: The Central government, not content with depriving Telangana of its rightful funds and sanctioning of projects, is now denying the State of even upgrading State Highways (SH) into National Highways (NH).

Statistics say it all. In Uttar Pradesh, 3,630 km of State roads, including SHs, were notified as NHs in the last five years, while in Gujarat, 2,564 km of SHs were notified as NHs. As opposed to the upgrade of roads in the two BJP-ruled states, the Centre notified only 1,618 km of roads in Telangana as NHs during the same period.

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This was disclosed in Lok Sabha by union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Jairam Gadkari on Thursday. Replying to a question by BJP MP Arvind Dharmapuri and Sumalatha Ambareesh, the Minister said the Ministry was primarily responsible for the development and maintenance of NHs. The development and maintenance of SHs is the responsibility of the respective State governments, he said.

Interestingly, 73 development works covering 2,138 km were approved for neighbouring Karnataka, another BJP-ruled State, with a sanctioned amount of Rs 37,112 crore. However, in Telangana, only 42 works covering 1,368 km were approved with a sanctioned amount of Rs 18,990.
Of these, works on 1,272 km were completed in Karnataka at a cost of Rs 13,621 crore. In Telangana, works on 543 km were completed at Rs 4,008 crore. The target for completion of all the works is 2022-2024.