Minister Janardhan Reddy vows to make AP roads free from potholes

The assurance was made just after he assumed charge amidst the chanting of Vedic hymns by priests at his chamber in the AP Secretariat here on Wednesday.

Briefing the media, the minister said AP has 8,164km of national highways, 12,653km state highways, 27,062km district roads and 5,663 roads connecting villages -- a total stretch of 53,542km, of which roads of 47,378km were under state control.

Citing the bad condition of roads, the minister alleged that no adequate funds had been granted by the previous government for the last five years. No repairs were taken up for the damaged roads. The normal practice is a fresh layer of tar is applied to the surface of roads every five years, but lack of funds led to suspension of such works.

At present, 22,007km of roads are to be repaired. Of these, 9,080km of roads remained in a bad condition. Proposals were ready for taking up immediate repair works for an 8,161km stretch of district roads and 3,340km of state roads.

The minister said proposals for filling up potholes and taking up repair works on roads at a cost of `284 crore have come up before him. The government was aiming to grant permission for this soon, he said.

The minister said that in the 2014-19 budget, the R and B department had been offered an allocation of `14,970 crore. Out of this, only a sum of Rs 12,064 crore was spent, meaning 80 per cent of the total. As for the 2019-2024 record, out of the allotted `19,428 crore, only `9,015 cr was spent. This meant a 46 per cent expenditure.

“Contractors were not paid for their bills worth `2,261 crore due to the state’s difficult financial position. They are facing trouble and are not coming forward to take up works when tenders for the road works are called,” he said.