The Hindu 30.01.2010
Road widening proposal being prepared: Minister
| ‘Durga temple stretch has become a traffic bottleneck’ |
Parthasarathy holds review meeting on the issue
Officials told not to disturb temple structures
VIJAYAWADA: Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Kolusu Parthasarathy has said that proposals are being prepared to widen the national highway at Kanakadurga temple and Krishnalanka at a cost of Rs.40 crore. Municipal Commissioner G. Ravi Babu will conduct a visit and prepare a report.
A meeting will be convened on February 2 for finalising the report, he said on Friday at the end of a review convened with elected representatives and officials on the issue.
Official estimate
The review was attended by Mayor M.V. Ratna Bindu, MLAs Malladi Vishnu, Deputy Mayor S.P. Gritton, Joint Collector B. Ramaiah, Chief Planning Officer P. Timma Reddy, Roads & Buildings Superintending Engineer Nagabhushanam, Executive Engineer K.V. Raghavendra Rao, Irrigation Superintending Engineer Ramachandra Murthy and others.
The Minister noted with concern the increasing traffic snarls and accidents on the national highway at the Kanakadurga temple, and said urgent steps needed to be taken to widen the road.
He said though heavy vehicle traffic coming into the city would come down once inner ring road was formed at Gollapudi, there was still a need to widen the national highway at the temple, Tummalapalem, Ashoka pillar and Krishnalanka. The authorities of the National Highways Authority of India estimated that the widening would cost Rs.40 crore.
Over to NHAI
Mr. Parthasarathy said that the proposals once finalised will be submitted to the Chief Minister and then to the NHAI authorities. Sufficient care should be taken to ensure that no part of the temple and its structures got affected by the widening of the road, he asked the officials.
Assurance to farmers
The Minister during the day also held a meeting with farmers of Mallapalli in Bapulapadu mandal to assess how much of land in the village could be utilised for the setting up of industries. He assured the farmers that justice would be done to them in the process of acquiring the lands, if necessary.
The district was lagging behind in industrial development and farmers must come forward to fill this gap. Priority would be given to locals in jobs, he assured.
