The roads and buildings minister was also set to discuss the stalled Regional Ring Road project with NHAI.
Published Dec 12, 2023 | 8:17 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 12, 2023 | 10:22 PM
File photo of Komatireddy Venkat Reddy. (Supplied)
Andhra Pradesh appears to have found an unexpected friend in Telangana Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkata Reddy.
He has promised to take up the pending issue of conferring Special Category status on Andhra Pradesh with the Union government.
Speaking to media persons at Delhi, on Tuesday, 12 December, the Telangana minister said that it was a promise made by the then prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the time of the passage of the AP State Reorganisation Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
He said it was the responsibility of his successor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to keep the promise made by Manmohan Singh.
“UPA [United Progressive Alliance] chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh had promised the Special Category status along with liberal assistance for the reorganised state of Andhra Pradesh to help it stand on its own feet. It is now Modi’s responsibility to implement it,” he said and reminded the prime minister that he had made a categorical assurance to Andhra to this effect when he visited the state ahead of elections in 2014.
Telangana Roads Minister Komatireddy Ventaka Reddy with NHAI Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav.
The minister said that by April next year, the Telangana government would begun works for the construction of Telangana Bhavan in Delhi.
After going around the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in the capital, which now belongs to both Andhra and Telangana, he elicited details on how much each state owns. He said he would take to the notice of the chief minister the present status of the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan.
“Already the construction of Telangana Bhavan is long overdue. There are no differences between the two states on the issue,” he said.
The minister met the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) chairman and took up the issue of the Regional Ring Road, and the laying of a six-lane greenfield Express Highway on NH 65 between Malkaur and Vijayawada.
The minister, on Monday, said that the state government would soon commence the Regional Ring Road works. He said he would discuss the proposal with the NHAI chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav.
What Komatireddy sought:
Plea for sanctioning ₹1,000 crore 25-km bypass road for Nalgonda town.
The speedy execution of the construction of bypass roads for Khammam and Mahbubnagar.
Allocation of ₹4,000 crore for the Armor-Mancherial Highway (NH-O) project in the next financial year.
What the NHAI said:
Tenders have been invited for the construction of black spots identified on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada Highway (NH-65).
Proposal for Hyderabad – Vijayawada green field expressway (NH-65) cleared.
Clearance from the state Forest Department for the 352-km stretch of the Nagpur-Vijayawada highway.
Venkata Reddy blamed the previous BRS government for the Regional Ring Road project becoming a non-starter.
The Union government had asked the state to pay ₹300 crore towards utility charges, but the state had expressed its inability to do so. This had led to the proposal for the ₹20,000 crore project gathering dust all these days.
He said the project, when implemented, would become the pride of Telangana as it would cover half of the state.
The 340-km road would be unique in its own away as nowhere in the entire country does such a long ring road exist.
“I will persuade the chief minister to write to the Union government that the state was ready to pay ₹300 crore as required,” he said, adding that he would have the tenders called for the project.
The entire road could be divided into packages of ₹60 crore each for its execution, he added.
