Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Road transport ministry seeks no cut in road upkeep budget -Dipak Kumar Dash

Road transport ministry seeks no cut in road upkeep budget -Dipak Kumar Dash

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Jan 6, 2014   modified Modified on Jan 6, 2014
-The Times of India


NEW DELHI: In the election year and with more complaints of "poor condition" of highways pouring in, the road transport ministry wants finance ministry not to reduce the allocation for road maintenance. The ministry has asked finance minister P Chidambaram to avoid reduction of "non-planned" expenditure since the allocation of Rs 2,000 crore for upkeep of highways is inadequate.

Sources said that highways minister wrote a letter to Chidambaram since the finance ministry is reducing no-plan expenditure of all ministries by 10% in the revised estimates. They added that the ministry has mentioned how against the requirement of Rs 3,000 crore for maintenance finance ministry allocated Rs 2,000 crore.

"It's inadequate to take care of all roads that get damaged. We have added over 8,000 km new stretches to our National Highway network in the past two years and maintenance of all these stretches is our responsibility since states have stopped spending soon after the roads are handed over to Centre," said a senior highway ministry official.

On the top of this, both highways ministry and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are now struggling to find fund for upkeep of about 3,000 km of NH stretches that the agencies had expected would be maintained by private developers. Though private developers had got these projects for their development and expansion and to collect toll, they have not yet taken over the works.

Senior ministry officials said that the expenditure on maintenance of such roads in Madhya Pradesh will only be around Rs 100 crore. It's no less in the case of Uttar Pradesh, which also has several dilapidated highway stretches and will be poll issue in the next few months. The situation has become so worse in MP that even the state High Court has threatened to take action against NHAI officials for their failure to maintain roads.

For the next financial year, the highways ministry wants Chidambaram to allocate at least Rs 3,000 crore so that there is no dearth of fund for maintenance. "When you have inadequate fund and several VIP requests some stretches will suffer. Meeting people's bare necessity of good motorable road is government's responsibility," said an official.


The Times of India, 6 January, 2014, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Road-transport-ministry-seeks-no-cut-in-road-upkeep-budget/articleshow/28454806.cms


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close