HYDERABAD: Construction of more than 20 police stations in the city including Kacheguda, SR Nagar, Humayun Nagar and across the State has hit a roadblock due to lack of funds.
The contractors were not willing to go ahead with the construction work due to delay in payment of bills for the works completed.
The prestigious twin towers project of the Telangana police department coming up at Banjara Hills is no exception. The twin towers with a Command Control Centre being constructed on the lines of NYPD headquarters will house the Hyderabad police commissionerate and several other departments.
While the construction of police stations is taken up by the Telangana State Police Housing Corporation through the e-tendering process, the twin towers project is being done by a private contractor and is monitored by the Roads & Buildings Department.
Before the police department faced the fund crunch, it constructed around 40 new police stations across the State and modernised more than 80 police stations in Hyderabad and Cyberabad commissionerates. However, inspired by the success, the department proposed to modernise more than 200 police stations across the State and submitted proposals to the government. They got an immediate go-ahead with the administrative sanction, but the proposals were shelved as further procedures hit a block. In the first phase, modernisation of police stations was completed in 2015. Likewise, 40 new police station buildings including 24 police stations located in the Left Wing Extremism affected areas were also completed.
While the delay in paying bills is being cited as one reason, another strong reason for suspending the works is escalating costs due to constant change in the design, additional structures, changes in the floor plans, interiors, fixtures and other aspects.