NH projects, city flyovers battlegrounds for R&B officials: BJP

HYDERABAD: The battle between the BRS and the BJP over delays in completing the work on the Amberpet flyover and the elevated corridor at Uppal received some fresh fuel igniting outrage from the BJP at municipal administration and urban development minister K.T. Rama Rao.The BJP said there was proof that it was not due to the Central government’s reluctance to go ahead with the projects that work on the two flyovers was languishing but it was due to the fault of the Telangana government officials.

Rama Rao, had earlier in a tweet, held the Central government responsible for the construction delays on the two projects while pointing out that, unlike the National Highways Authority of India, the state government, through its Strategic Road Development Project was making fast strides in building flyovers in the city.
A letter written by the Regional Office of the ministry of road transport and highways to the state roads and buildings department on March 14, released by the BJP here on Wednesday, has become the latest weapon for the BJP to launch a fresh attack on the BRS government, and Rama Rao over the issue of delays in constructing of the flyovers.

In the letter, the ministry’s office in Hyderabad, told K.S. Sreenivasa Raju, the secretary of the transport, roads and buildings department, that the work on the elevated flyover at Amberpet, and the six-lane elevated corridor at Uppal is “getting hampered because of the internal fight of your subordinate officers”.

In his letter, S.K. Kushvaha, the regional officer for the ministry in Hyderabad, said, “Though the National Highways wing of State PWD (R&B) Department is providing all supports for getting an expeditious sanction of NHs from ministry, and for timely execution of awarded NH projects in the state, I am distressed to observe that in some major NH projects, your subordinate offices are fighting each other, which is not only hampering the progress of projects but also defeating the excellent vision of Hon’ble Union minister for road transport and highways for faster development of infrastructure in the state of Telangana.”
Kushavaha further asked Raju, the IAS officer and secretary to R&B Department, “I also personally request you to advise your subordinate offices ‘to refrain from making NH projects of MORTH as their battlefields…”

Releasing a copy of the letter to the media, senior BJP leader N. Indrasena Reddy said both Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, and his son Rama Rao have made it their only task to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Central government. “Rama Rao’s brazen lies about the delays in the construction of the flyovers are nothing but an attempt to cover up his own government’s failures. He also needs to explain why the BRS government put the Metro rail line till Falaknuma before blaming the Centre for not approving BHEL to the Lakdika-Pul metro line. If KTR has a letter that says this, he must release it. Did the Centre reject the project or ask for more details?” Indrasena Reddy said.