Kerala: Public works department may not take up repair of village roads

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The public works department would not consider revised estimate proposals of one-time maintenance of village roads, granted by former chief minister Oommen Chandy. There were widespread allegations then that only selected village roads under local bodies with more political clout got due attention ignoring a majority of rural roads. A top PWD official told DC that works minister G. Sudhakaran was against taking up village roads when the PWD roads are facing fund crunch.

“The PWD minister has decided to bring such village roads now under local bodies to major district roads category,” he said. “A government level decision has to come where the cabinet’s approval needed. If so, 21 village roads across the state will be undertaken by the PWD in due course.” Meanwhile, the National Highway Authority of India has started the evaluation process of tenders received for the work of the Rs 850-crore Thalassery - Mahe bypass opened last month. The first stretch alone costs Rs 390 crore. Tendering process of the Kozhikode bypass is also at its final stage. During 2015, Union surface transport minister Nitin Gadkari had sanctioned Rs 400 crore for the Rs 34, 000-crore NH development projects in Kerala.