Vemula Prashanth Reddy counters Congress claims on RRR

After multiple trips and repeated pleas by the State government since 2015, the Centre gave in principle approval for the northern part of RRR in 2017, he said in the Assembly during a discussion on demands for grants for 2025-26

Hyderabad: Countering the Congress party’s claims on the Regional Ring Road (RRR), former Roads and Buildings Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy said it was former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao who had conceived the RRR project.

After multiple trips and repeated pleas by the State government since 2015, the Centre gave in principle approval for the northern part of RRR in 2017, he said in the Assembly during a discussion on demands for grants for 2025-26.

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For the first time in history, the Telangana government had even agreed to bear 50 per cent of the land acquisition cost and Rs 100 crore was also deposited to this effect. The former Chief Minister had personally met Union Minister Nitin Gadkari a few times and accordingly, the RRR was included in the Bharatmala project, he said, showing Chandrashekhar Rao’s photos with Nitin Gadkari.

However, in the last 15 months, the Congress government did not acquire a single acre for the northern part of RRR. Tenders have been postponed twice as the National Highways did not allot a highway number and it did not have environment clearance as well, he said.

Similarly, for the Southern part of RRR, the Centre had accorded in principle during the BRS government’s tenure, besides finalising the alignment. However, the Congress government was changing the alignment without explaining the reasons, the former Minister maintained.

If the alignment was changed and the NHAI did not take up the project, there would be a financial burden of Rs 15,000 crore on the State exchequer, he explained.

Intervening, R&B Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy alleged that the former Minister was misleading the House. He claimed that the NHAI had already allotted the NH number for the northern part. This apart, consent was received from 80 per cent of farmers for land acquisition, he said, alleging that the BRS government had not acquired any land.

Countering the Minister’s claims, Prashanth Reddy said “I stand by my word on RRR details and not a single word is wrong. I am on record.”

Exposing the Congress government’s commitment towards RRR, the former Minister also pointed out that nearly Rs 3000 crore would be required for land acquisition and other costs of northern part. Against this, only Rs 500 crore was allocated in the budget, he said.

The former Minister listed out the works executed by R&B department under the BRS rule. In all, Rs 12,988 crore was spent planned works and Rs 22,180 crore non-planned works. This apart, Rs 24,832 crore was spent towards building construction. About 1 crore square feet building area was constructed in the BRS tenure, he said.

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Details of RRR (Northern part) approvals

• – RRR project persuasion started in 2015
• – In principle approval accorded in 2017
• – Included in Bharatmala Pariyojana on March 5, 2021
• – Alignment approved on December 6, 2021
• – Between September 2022 and September 2023, four land acquisition officers appointed to expedite works