HYDERABAD: Minister for Road and Buildings, Tummala Nageshwar Rao admitted that prevailing road conditions in the twin cities is not satisfactory and is denting the image of the city.
He noted that lack of coordination among departments like Greater Hyderabad Municipal Coporation (GHMC), Hyderabad Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB), Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL), Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Coporation Limited (TSSPDCL), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Roads and Buildings (R&B) department and private agencies while taking up works is causing hardships to citizens.
He directed the heads of all line departments to come together and be alert to take up recarpeting of roads, pothole fillings and other civic works to tackle the emergency situations during the rainy season. There should not be any lapse and necessary steps need to be taken to not repeat the situations which occurred last year.
He said that the roads under the control of R&B, National Highways, Radial roads and the roads under GHMC, HMDA must be kept pothole free for the convenience of the citizens.
The Minister announced that as many as 25 Instant Repair Teams will be formed to fill the potholes and take minor road repairs. Each team will be provided with a vehicle, men, machinery and material.
Minister along GHMC Mayor Bonthu Rammohan, Deputy Mayor, Baba Fasiuddin, GHMC Commissioner B Janardhan Reddy along with senior officials of various wings of government departments held a review meeting at Marri Channa Reddy Human Resource Development (MCHRD) Institute on Saturday.
He said that the main purpose of the meeting was to discuss monsoon preparedness and formulating an action plan and coordinate among all the heads of the departments for taking up works in a phased manner to derive good results.
To make Hyderabad a global city, State government has taken up the Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP) project at a cost of Rs 23,000 crore, of which Rs 2,631 crore has been released in first phase and tenders have been processed and the works are being taken up.
Rammohan said that GHMC with the help of State government is taking up major projects like SRDP, improvement of junctions and overall development of the city as per the vision of the Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao and GHMC is striving hard to make Hyderabad a global city.
The mayor said that lakhs of vehicles are plying on the roads as a result of free flow of traffic, adding that there is a need for further development of the city.
‘Restore roads by month end’
With the State government giving top priority to road safety in Hyderabad, directions have been issued that all main roads in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits which were cut should be restored by month end. In the City Convergence meeting held at Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board office on Saturday, it was decided to provide road markings, reflectors, divider blocks and the like on priority.
Among other issues, road leveling, pre-monsoon action plan and silt removal were also discussed. Keeping in view upcoming monsoon, city convergence meeting is being conducted twice a month as per the directions of Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KTR.
GHMC commissioner B Janardhan Reddy told his department’s engineers that potholes must be filled right away. For every 100 metres, residents of that area have to be made road volunteers for the purpose action plan must be prepared, he said.