Telangana urges Centre to sanction new NHs
Roads and Buildings Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy said being the youngest State in the country, TS needs the support of the Union government in creating good road infrastructure for overall development of the State
Hyderabad: State government on Monday urged the Centre to notify at least 1,000 km of roads in Telangana as new National Highways (NH), and sanction Rs 1,000 crore under Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) pending to the State since its formation. Further, it had sought the Centre to develop alternate NH network around Hyderabad city in the form of the Regional Ring Road (RRR) considering the increasing vehicular population within the city limits.
Participating in the inauguration and foundation stone laying ceremony of 14 NH projects in the State through virtual conferences here, Roads and Buildings Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy said being the youngest State in the country, Telangana needs the support of the Union government in creating good road infrastructure for overall development of the State. He reminded Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari that in-principle approval was given for upgradation of 25 State roads covering about 3,135 km length as new NHs in the successor State of Telangana under the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
“Only 1,366 km length has been notified as new NHs so far and balance length of 1,769 km is yet to be notified. The density of NH network in Telangana State is just 3.49 km/100 sq km area which is far below the national average of 4.01 km/100 sq km area. There is necessity of notifying at least 1,000 km of new NHs in Telangana State, out of balance in-principle approved 1,769 km,” he stated.
Further, the Minister pointed out that the two State highways of Sangareddy-Narsapur-Tupran-Gajwel-Jagdevpur-Bhongir-Choutuppal of 158 km length and Choutuppal-Shadnagar-Kandi of 181.87 km length were approved in-principle for upgradation as NHs in 2016. These two highways together form a Regional Ring Road (RRR) around Hyderabad City traversing at a distance of about 50 to 60 Km from Hyderabad and passes through six districts. He pointed out that Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao as well as himself and other MPs from Telangana State made several representations where the Chief Minister gave an undertaking for bearing 50 per cent cost of land acquisition for the RRR project.
Prashanth Reddy stated that the Union Ministry has so far sanctioned 197 works under CRIF for improvement of State Roads at a cost of Rs 2,436 crore to Telangana since 2014. Of this, about 147 works worth Rs 1,750 crore have been completed by the State government and the balance 50 works will be completed during the financial year 2020-21. “We request for sanction of additional works under CRIF worth of Rs 1,000 crore to Telangana during this financial year,” he added.
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