Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that a new fillip has been given to development works in the State and that the government has sanctioned ₹2,205 crore for construction and maintenance of roads in a year, a record of sorts in the history of the State.
While reviewing the progress of works of the Roads and Buildings Department at the camp office on Monday, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the negligence of the previous government in the maintenance of roads and the prolonged spells of heavy rain in the past two years were responsible for the present condition of the roads across the State.
“A malicious propaganda is being made that all the roads have been damaged in the present government’s term,’’ said Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Officials informed the Chief Minister that construction and repair of roads would be completed by the end of May.
‘False propaganda’
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that a false propaganda was being made that some bills related to construction of ROBs were kept pending by the present government. The State government is spending ₹571.3 crore to complete these works, he said.
The officials informed the Chief Minister that tenders for 83% of the road works were completed and the rest would be accomplished by February-end.
While reviewing the works related to the beach corridor road from the Visakhapatnam port to Bhimili-Bhogapuram, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the beach corridor should be the best in the world and that it should decrease travel time between Visakhapatnam and the proposed Bhogapuram airport. He said the project needs to be given the highest priority as tourism projects will come up near the beach corridor road. There are many restrictions on civil flights in the present airport and even night landing of flights is getting difficult due to Navy regulations, he said.
Roads and Buildings Minister M. Shankar Narayana, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Revenue Special Chief Secretary Rajat Bhargava, Transport Principal Secretary M.T. Krishnababu, Transport Commissioner P. Sitaramanjaneyulu and other senior officials were present in the meeting.
