Andhra Pradesh to take up repair of damaged roads on war footing

Amaravati, July 12 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday directed the Roads and Buildings Department to take up repairs of damaged roads on a war footing. He asked the officers to immediately call for the tenders for the necessary works and complete the road repairs.During a review meeting on the prevailing condition of roads in various parts of the state, the officers informed the Chief Minister that during the five-year rule of the YSR Congress, even potholes were not filled while pending bills were not cleared for the contractors.The Chief Minister was told that since the bills of the contractors, worth crores of rupees, have not been cleared they did not come forward to take up the road-repair works.The officials said that a minimum of Rs 300 crore was needed immediately to fill the potholes on the roads across the state. It was revealed that there are potholes on the roads to an extent of 4,151 km while roads to a length of 2,939 km need immediate attention.After hearing the officials, Naidu directed them to immediately take up the work of filling the potholes and focus mainly on the roads that need urgent repairs. He said that road users have faced various problems since the previous government did not bother to take up the repairs of the damaged roads.The Chief Minister conducted the review meeting with the R&B Department officials and academic experts on adopting the latest technology for the construction of roads in the state.He discussed with the professors of IIT and SRM University, Tirupati how to adopt the latest technology in the construction of quality roads with minimum expenditure. They examined in detail how to take up the work not in the traditional way but by utilising various kinds of material for the construction of roads which can last long, particularly in heavy traffic areas.Roads and Buildings Minister B.C. Janardhan Reddy, officials of the department, professors, construction experts, and others participated in the meeting.–IANSms/vd