Army allows repairs on Yapral-Kowkur stretch.

After halting road laying works on the Yapral-Kowkur stretch last week, the local military authority has finally allowed the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department to continue works, which resumed on recent afternoon.

Army jawans stopped the works on the three-km double-lane road between Yapral tank and Kowkur Dargah where the R&B Department was carrying out repairs, following the laying of water pipelines.

Development works on the road were originally conceived as part of other bigger projects, including a four-lane carriageway to link Yapral and Shamirpet through the Outer Ring Road (ORR), to be taken up by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA). For now, however, the R&B Department only plans to repair the road as water pipeline works have left it damaged.

After the Army halted works last week, Malkajigiri MLA C. Kanaka Reddy sought to get the local military authority’s (LMA) nod citing benefits for both the civilian and military population. “We were told that we can only lay roads but not widen it,” he said.

He also clarified that no permission was given for any works beyond the dargah as the thoroughfare would pass through an existing Army firing range.

It was learnt that the local military authority had initially offered to build and maintain a small part of the stretch which falls on defence land, but later it was decided that the R&B Department could handle that part as well, as the water board had already deposited funds for the entire stretch.

Surprisingly, the office of the Defence Estates Officer (DEO) has maintained that it has not been involved in the entire issue.

Usually, the DEO’s office acquires land for the ministry and also the one-stop point for any acquisition of defence lands.

The Army authorities have also clarified through a communiqué that no permission was given for a four-lane carriageway from Yapral to Shamirpet as proposal for construction of such a carriageway was not sent by the Telangana government.

With the Army standing back to let repairs take place on the stretch, R&B Department hopes to repair the road by the end of this year. The works will cost the exchequer Rs. 4 crore.


THE HINDU