Vijayawada: August 1 is the deadline for the infrastructural arrangements for Krishna Pushkaralu to be in place, but several government departments have not covered even 50 per cent of their targeted tasks. The main ones lagging behind are: Municipal, Endowments, and Roads and Buildings (R&B), while the irrigation department figures last, with none of the 85 projects it proposed having been completed. What’s more, these departments have not spent nearly 50 per cent of the funds allocated to them.
According to Krishna Pushkaralu officials, the Municipal department had planned to execute 307 projects, but it has completed only 29 so far, which is only 23 per cent of achievement.
Similarly, the R&B department took up 138 projects, including various roads in the city, but has finished only 10 of them. The APTransco embarked on 95 projects, but 67 are in an incomplete stage. The Endowments department had 485 works on the anvil, including temple renovation, but only 91 have been done, the remainder being in various stages of completion.
Official data reveals that the highest budget of Rs 23,224.11 lakh went to the Municipal department, which used only Rs 1,369.2 lakh. The irrigation department, which got an allocation of Rs 7,672.48 lakh, has not spent any money. The Endowments department was given Rs 3,566.24 lakh, but spent only Rs 262 lakh.
Transco spent only Rs 344 lakh against its allocation of Rs 2,747 lakh. AP irrigation minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao was hopeful, nevertheless, of all works being completed in time, while urging all departments to take part in the review meetings once every few days.
