Two months of monsoon havoc, Telangana’s pot-holed roads still await repairs

Despite two months of relentless rains wreaking havoc on Telangana’s roads and culverts, the state government has yet to initiate meaningful repair work. With contractor dues exceeding Rs 1,400 crore and poor tender response, the Roads and Buildings Department struggles to restore connectivity.

Hyderabad: Even after nearly two months of heavy rains lashing the State and causing extensive damage to the roads and culverts, the State Government has not yet begun to take up even temporary repairs of the damaged roads.

The torrential rains in last August led to extensive damage and the Roads and Buildings department had drawn up a plan for taking up temporary repair works at a cost of Rs. 53.76 crore. It had estimated that it would cost nearly Rs. 1,157.46 crore for taking up permanent repair works.

Even as people continued to suffer due to worsening road conditions, the State witnessed another round of heavy rains and the figure for carrying out temporary repairs was revised to Rs. 72.49 crore and Rs. 1,263.33 crore for permanent works.

Save for initiating repairs to breaches reported at different places and filling up of potholes, the R&B department has failed to take up any tangible works to mitigate the suffering of the road users.

“This is mainly due to poor response to tenders from contractors. They are not keen on executing the works, including temporary works. The reason is that the government failed to clear Rs.140 crore dues to maintenance contractors,” conceded a senior official from the department.

Admitting that several roads in the State have gone from bad to worse and many culverts and other structures have also been damaged, the official said it was challenging for the department to execute the works.

There are about 1400 contractors, whose bills ranging from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 50 lakh have not been cleared for the last two years. In addition, the government has to clear dues of nearly Rs.1,400 crore to major contractors, who had executed road recarpeting and other repair works.

“Unless the contractors’ bills are cleared, it is tough to execute new works. The department cannot take up all the works on its own,” the official said.

After the recent spell of heavy rains in the State, the department identified nearly 1,370 kilometres of State roads, which have been damaged severely at 1,062 locations. Among these, 68 roads were completely cut off, hampering connectivity and disrupting public transport. Cross-Drainage (CD) structures worth about Rs.306 crore have also suffered significant damage, requiring immediate attention.

Till date, temporary restoration has been completed at 38 stretches, ensuring partial relief to commuters. Of the 520 locations where water overflow complaints were lodged, water receded at 478 points. Likewise, traffic interruptions were reported at 445 stretches and of these, 375 have already been restored for movement, officials claimed.

Regarding the balance works that have been pending for two months, Roads & Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy at a meeting on Monday assured the officials that he would ensure the government releases the funds required for taking up the works. However, officials are not confident as similar assurances were made in the past.