Make roads shine like mirrors, KCR tells officials

Hyderabad: After nearly five months of frantic political activity involving national politics and the Munugode byelection, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao convened a review meeting with officials from the roads and buildings (R&B), panchayat raj, and rural development (PR&RD) departments on Thursday to assess the condition of the state's road infrastructure, and directed them to repair bad roads by the second week of December.

The CM directed officials to first repair rain-and flood-affected roads and then the other roads. At a marathon meeting, he pointed out that overloaded vehicles were damaging the roads. The number of vehicles on the state's roads had risen vastly due to increased development, he said.

Rao directed officials to prepare reports on the state of roads, appointments to be made in the R&B department to enhance work efficiency and an action plan for improving roads so they sparkle, "look like mirrors."

Officials told the CM that the increased movement of 'cage wheel' tractors in villages was damaging roads. The CM directed them to make farmers and drivers aware of the damage, and implement stringent norms to prevent it.

The CM asked officials to decentralise the functioning of R&B and PR&RD departments to enable engineers to undertake road repair works themselves without waiting for approvals. The CM asked them to follow the administrative mechanism being followed by the irrigation department.

Rao asked officials to submit a report to the government on administrative reforms that need to be brought so that it could be approved in the next cabinet meeting.

The meeting was attended by ministers Vemula Prashanth Reddy, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, V. Srinivas Goud, Rythu Bandhu Samiti president MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, MLAs, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, and top officials.

The CM had held the last departmental review meeting on July 5 on the BC, SC, ST, and minority study circles and residential schools. Since the beginning of 2022, he has been preoccupied with politics.

The CM last held a full-fledged departmental review meeting in April, seven months ago, to discuss Palle Pragathi and Pattana Pragathi programmes, as well as for reviewing the arrangements for rabi paddy procurement and encouraging farmers to grow alternative crops.

He did hold review meetings later but those were for urgent developments: on July 23 and August 2 for the celebrations to mark 75 years of Independence, and on July 11 and 23 to assess the flood situation.

There have also been no Cabinet meetings in the last two months. The most recent Cabinet meeting was on September 3, with previous meetings on August 11, April 12, and January 17. Only four Cabinet meetings have been held thus far, with only one-and-a-half months until the end of 2022.

There have also been no collectors' conferences since May 18 of this year. The CM had proposed holding a collectors' conference in July this year to discuss and resolve Dharani issues by holding 'Revenue Sadassulu', but it was later postponed due to floods in the state that month.