RRR Southern part project handed over to HGCL

The Telangana government has entrusted HGCL with the Southern part of the Regional Ring Road amid allegations of tender irregularities and protests over land acquisition. The alignment awaits NHAI approval, while tenders for the Northern stretch face repeated extensions pending clearances.

Hyderabad: Amidst the controversy surrounding the alleged irregularities in Radial Road 2 tenders floated by Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL), the State government has now entrusted the Southern part of Regional Ring Road (RRR) to HGCL.

Congress MLA from Munugode Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy had charged irregularities in tenders and accused that they were being offered to Andhra based companies. He even said there was a loss of Rs.600 crore to the State exchequer in the tenders.

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In this backdrop, the State government’s decision to entrust the RRR’s Southern part of HGCL, is triggering apprehensions.

“HGCL has been entrusted with the task of RRR’s Southern part. Since the organisation is involved in land acquisition for Future City, it is handed over the Southern part as well,” a senior official from Roads and Buildings department said.

Unlike the Northern part of RRR, the Southern part has been in the news for all wrong reasons. Farmers and land owners had staged protests over the changes made in the initial alignment. They accused that lands of influential people and industrialists were spared and those belonging to the small and marginal farmers were being targeted for acquisition.

Apart from left parties, leaders from the Congress party had also raised objections over the changes in the alignment.

Amid these charges and protests, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has not approved the Southern part alignment so far.

The proposed 201-km six-lane expressway is expected to run from Thangdapalli, Choutuppal to Sangareddy. It passes through several habitations Sangareddy, Rangareddy, Nagarkurnool, Yadadri Bhongir, Vikarabad, Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda.

As per estimates, officials said over 2000 hectares of land had to be acquired for the project. All these details and alignment had been submitted to the Central government but they have not been approved so far.

Northern part of RRR tenders continue to get extended

Meanwhile, the tenders for Northern part of RRR, continue to get extended with Central government yet to give necessary clearances. On the State government’s part, already Rs.627 crore has been paid to NHAI for execution of the project.

This apart, over 90 per cent of the land acquisition has also been completed. The union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has to give a clearance for execution of the project and this was resulting in the tenders being extended repeatedly, the official said.