KHAMMAM: There are concerns over Vijayawada-Nagpur Greenfield Highway Project (VNGHP) passing through Khammam town even as district officials are having a tough time acquiring lands for the highway project.
The highway is expected to cross Khammam-Rajahmundry road between Khammam and M. Venkatayapelem. The integrated collectorate complex coming up in Khammam town will be just 300 metres away from the highway. Except police and Khammam Municipal Corporation (KMC), 87 departments will be housed in the collectorate complex being built near M. Venkatayapelem. About 1,700 employees will have to thus cross the national highway to reach their office every day.
Sthambadri Urban Development Authority (SUDA), KMC and district planning committee have no concrete information about the alignment of VNGHP. National Highways Authority of India has not yet shared its detailed project report. Questions are being raised how a prestigious Greenfield national highway project can be aligned to pass through a town; that too near collectorate complex. Moreover, Khammam town itself is expanding all around. Ten years from now, the highway may even become part of the town, it is feared.
A citizen K. Rajasekhar Reddy said, “Khammam Municipal Corporation will have to build flyovers and underpasses for city traffic to cross the VNGHP if the present alignment of the highway is not changed. The highway could thus turn out to be a curse for Khammam,” he remarked.
