KURNOOL: A forty-feet road widening plan for Bethamcherla town has raised a controversy as it is alleged that the hidden idea is to increase the value of lands belonging to a state minister. There was no traffic and the villages to be covered by the proposed road widening currently has no commercial activity, critics say.
The proposed 40-feet road widening is taken up from Bethamcherla to Kolumulapalli village.
The issue arose after the Municipal Administration department issued an endorsement notice seeking RR Pavers, Divya Stones, and Natural Stones in Survey No10 and submission of a factory plan approval with site documents. A local who would lose land raised the question as to what was the public interest involved in widening the Kolumulapalli road as there was hardly any traffic on it now.
Others in the village agreed that the existing metal road served the purpose. They suspected that the idea could be to raise the real estate value of a 30-acre land held by the minister. “Bethamcherla is a tiny town hosting some mines and units that do stone polishing,” they note.
A villager suspected that the road widening is a ploy to acquire wakf lands and D-pattas set along the way. The Muslim Wakf board has 40 acres of land alongside the road and a henchman of the local minister was negotiating with the Wakf Board members to cede their rights over it for an agreed share in the property.
One Sastry who owns a slab factory in the area said his factory was sanctioned by the district collector and he got a loan and subsidy. The government has invested money to promote entrepreneurship.
“However, the municipality and the roads and buildings department are planning to demolish such factories in the name of road development,” he complained.
Bethtamcherla Nagara Panchayat commissioner Ramesh Babu said the minister has a plan to erect a ring road and develop the area for everyone’s benefit. “The widening works are a part of this.” While the commissioner agreed that there was less of traffic on the road now, he said it could increase in future.
About fund allocations, he said there was no dearth of funds for Bethamcherla as the local minister sanctioned several projects there. To a question, he said Bethamcherla has no Master Plan. “But we will have a plan soon,” he said.
