Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy has ordered the officials to expedite the land acquisition and complete the payment of compensation for the construction of national highways by October, 2025.
The chief minister held a high-level review of the construction of national highways, permissions, and approval of new proposals with the officials of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), National Highways Department (NH), Ministry of National Highways and Road Transport (MoRT), Roads and Buildings Department, and Forest Department at Dr BR Ambedkar Telangana State Secretariat on Monday, September 22.
Stressing the need for land acquisition to be taken up from a humane perspective, the chief minister instructed the district collectors to explain the benefits of road development to the farmers during land acquisition, and to resolve the cases of arbitration quickly.
He warned that the district collectors, revenue divisional officers (RDO) and mandal revenue officers (MRO) being negligent in land acquisition and payment of compensation will be removed from their service.
The Chief Minister inquired about the sanction of national highways, approval of the proposals and the delay in the process.
When Revanth Reddy questioned the NHAI officials about them raising new issues in the construction of the northern part of Regional Ring Road’s (RRR), and advised the officials to send all their doubts and queries at once.
The chief minister appealed to the NHAI officials to immediately secure permissions for the northern and southern parts of RRR, and to cooperate in starting the work of both simultaneously. The NHAI officials expressed their willingness to accept his request for the approval of the alignment of the southern part of RRR immediately.
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On greenfield highway between Hyderabad-Machilipatnam
Revanth Reddy also advised the NHAI officials to immediately secure permissions for the Bharat Future City- Amaravati- Machilipatnam 12-lane greenfield highway, to develop a dry port , logistics park and an industrial park in this corridor.
He said that the greenfield highway will connect the capital cities of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, making conveyance for the transport of goods and passengers easy on this stretch, reducing the distance between Hyderabad and Vijayawada by 70 km.
Reminding that the construction of a greenfield highway between the two states was assured in the AP Reorganisation act, he felt that the required permissions needed to be given under PM Gatishakti or any other scheme of the Centre, along with the finalisation of the highway’s alignment.
“The state government has also requested the Centre to sanction a railway line between Bengaluru – Shamshabad Airport – Amaravati, parallel to this greenfield highway, which is suitable for running trains including the Vande Bharat train,” he told the officials.
Elevated corridor inside the Amrabad Tiger Reserve
Revanth Reddy also sought immediate approval for the elevated corridor between Raviryal and Mannanur on the Hyderabad-Srisailam route, and instructed the NHAI officials to immediately seek necessary approvals for the elevated corridor inside the Amrabad Tiger Reserve (ATR).
He instructed Telangana chief secretary K Ramakrishna Rao to take immediate action to resolve the case pending in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) regarding the removal of Banyan trees on Hyderabad-Manneguda road.
He also urged the NHAI to approve the new Hyderabad-Manchiryal-Nagpur road, which he claimed, would help in the establishment of new industrial parks and connect national highways.
The chief minister also enquired about the delay in land acquisition and compensation for the Mancherial- Warangal- Khammam- Vijayawada national highway (NH-163G), Armur- Jagtial- Mancherial (NH-63); Jagtial- Karimnagar (NH-563); and Mahabubnagar- Marikal- Deosugur (NH-167) roads.
The collectors brought to the chief minister’s notice that court cases were pending in many places with regard to the construction of roads in several areas, which had become an issue.
The chief minister instructed the chief secretary to prepare a report on all the cases pending in the districts, discuss them with the advocate general within a week, and take steps to resolve them.
When the chief minister enquired about the delay in the payment of compensation, the collectors brought to his attention that there was a delay in the release of funds from the competent authority for land acquisition.
The NHAI officials said that they were releasing funds only after the lists were uploaded, and requested the collectors to do it swiftly.
The chief minister warned the collectors that the state government will not tolerate any delay in this matter, and ordered them to complete the land acquisition cases immediately and upload the lists on time.
The issue of forest lands
Revanth Reddy also reviewed the complaints lodged by the forest and environment department in the construction of national highways. The forests’ southern region inspector general (IG) Trinath Kumar said that forest and environment regulations were violated in many areas from 2002 to 2022, and as a result of that, permissions were not being given at present for the road projects.
The chief minister clarified that the officials who worked in the undivided Andhra Pradesh were no longer working, and ordered the chief secretary to submit details regarding the violations. Also assuring that alternative land will be given to the forest development wherever necessary, he said he will personally meet Union minister of national highways Nitin Gadkari and Union minister of forests, environment and climate change Bhupender Yadav in this regard.
The chief minister also expressed his concern over the Wildlife Act being implemented even in the forest areas where he claimed, there was no wildlife.
Revanth Reddy said that the government was ready to bear the costs in this regard, and advised the principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) Dr Suvarna, to take initiative and complete the forest clearance process quickly.
In his response to the NHAI officials requesting the state government to allocate two-acre land in Hyderabad for the construction of their office, Revanth Reddy instructed the officials to find suitable land and start the process immediately.
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