Hyderabad: The Congress government is set to give a major push to road and infrastructure projects in Telangana that were grossly neglected by the previous BRS government in the last five years.
A part of this mission, a delegation, consisting of ministers and senior officials, led by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy met Union Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari in Delhi on Wednesday and secured pending approvals for various highway projects and the Hyderabad Regional Ring Road project.
The delegation consisted of Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka, R&B Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu, and a team of officials
Revanth Reddy appealed to Nitin Gadkari to declare the southern section of the Regional Ring Road (RRR) as a national highway and grant funds in the NHAI Annual Plan this year. He also requested the widening of the Hyderabad-Vijayawada National Highway into six lanes to accommodate increasing traffic and enhance road safety. He also pressed for declaring the road from Choutuppal to Amangal-Shadnagar-Sangareddy (181.87 km) as a national highway.
He brought to the notice of Gadkari that tenders for the sanctioned national highway from Hyderabad (ORR Gourielli Junction) to Kothagudem via Valigonda, Thorrur, Nellikuduru, Mahabubabad have been called for only one package on the 69 km stretch and the works have already started.
Recalling Gadkari's statement in the Warangal public meeting that the Hyderabad-Kothagudem road will be called Jai Sriram road, which will reduce the distance by 40 km between Hyderabad and Bhadrachalam, the Chief Minister requested the Union minister to start work immediately as tenders have been called for the remaining three packages (165 km) of this national highway.
He informed Gadkari that the Sangareddy to Narsapur-Toopran-Gajwel-Jagdevpur-Bhongir -Choutuppal road on 158.645 km stretch has already been declared as a national highway and half of its land acquisition cost will be borne by the state government.
Revanth Reddy said the widening of the Hyderabad-Vijayawada (NH 65) national highway to six lanes is supposed to be completed by April 2024. However, the contract agency has not taken up the six-lane project on the pretext of the vehicular traffic getting reduced after the bifurcation and the agency was not getting proper income.
He appealed to Gadkari to resolve the dispute between NHAI and the contract company and take up the six-lane road development project on the national highway immediately.
He asked the Union minister to declare Kalwakurthi to Kolhapur-Somasila-Karivena-Nandyal (NH-167K) road as a National Highway and call for tenders to take up works on 142 km stretch road
Revanth Reddy said tenders were called for the works of the remaining 32 km and the construction of the Iconic Bridge and requested that works start immediately. The distance between Hyderabad and Tirupati will be reduced by 70 km once the proposed national highway is completed.
He has been asked to upgrade the two-lane road between Hyderabad- Kalwakurthy (NH- 765k) to four lanes. The Chief Minister said that the Kalwakurthy-Nandyal highway (NH-167K) will start at 67 km (Kalwakurthy) on the Hyderabad-Srisailam route (NH 167K) as national highway and the works for NH 167k highway are started.
The Chief Minister requested permission for a four-lane road between Hyderabad and Kalwakurthi before the completion of works between Kalwakurthi and Karivena. He informed Nitin Gadkari that 62 kilometres of the Hyderabad-Srisailam (NH 765) road came under the purview of Amrabad Tiger Reserve Forest and the works are not being taken up due to pending forest clearances. He said more than 7,000 vehicles are plying on this route regularly and requested permission for a four-lane elevated corridor in the Amrabad area.
He requested Nitin Gadkari to declare the Jagityal-Peddapalli-Manthani-Kataram state highway as a national highway and allocate adequate funds. He said this highway will connect NH-565 and NH-353C and also provide convenience for the people of Telangana, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh to travel. The Manthani highway will also improve connectivity to the Kaleshwaram region, which is called the Kashi of the South.
The Chief Minister said that land acquisition has been completed after declaring the Hyderabad-Manneguda four-lane national highway (NH-163) which connects Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Tenders were called but the works did not start due to a case pending before the NGT. The NHAI agreed to translocation of the Banyan trees along the route as per the norms prescribed by the Union Environment Ministry. The Chief Minister asserted the alignment should not be changed at this stage and requested the union minister to issue appropriate instructions to the concerned departments and start the work immediately.
The Chief Minister also pleaded with the Union minister to upgrade the national highways - Jagityal-Kataram (130 km), Dindi-Nalgonda (100 km), Bhongiri -Chityal (44 km), Choutuppal-Sangareddy (182 km), Marikal-Ramasamudram (63 km). m.), Wanaparthy-Mantralayam (110 km), Manneguda-Bidar (134 km), Karimnagar-Pitlam (165 km), Erravelli Cross Road-Raichur (67 km), Kothapally-Duddeda (75 km), Sarapaka-EturNagaram (93 km), Duddeda-Rayagiri cross road (63 km), Jaggayyapeta-Kothagudem (100 km), Sirisilla-Koratla (65 km), Bhutpur-Sirigiripadu (166 km), Karimnagar-Rayapatnam (60 km) total 1617 km national highways.
