Hyderabad: It has been over a year since the Road and Buildings department was asked to hand over all city roads to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation for maintenance (not ownership. However, there has been no serious persuasion either from the GHMC or the state government. The R&B department owns several important road stretches in Greater Hyderabad, of which 80 per cent are badly damaged and the department lacks funds to carry out the repair works. Incidentally, the new infrared machine called the Road Doctor, which was procured to fill up potholes efficiently, is only meant for GHMC roads.
“Most of the Hyderabad roads that are damaged belong to the R&B department as well as the state and national highway authorities,” said the Hyderabad Mayor. Out of 625-km of roads falling under Hyderabad’s jurisdiction, 36.40 kilometres belong to the R&B department; 157.78 kilometres make up the intercepting state highways and 98.70 kilometres are under the NHA. Even the major connectivity from PVNR expressway to HICC, passing by Sarojini Devi Hospital, belongs to the R&B department.
During former chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy’s tenure, the GHMC, at a Cabinet meet, had asked these departments to hand over the city roads to it, so that the entire city’s connectivity could be handled by it. Mr Reddy too had given a green signal, however nothing has happened. Applications that have been pending with the Roads & Buildings department for the last eight months for a part of the junction from Aramgarh to Owaisi School to be converted into an expressway by the GHMC by allotting a budget of around Rs 40 crore.
