Rs. 2,000 cr. to build 4,500-km panchayat roads.

Panchayat Raj Minister Ayyanna Patrudu recently said 4,500-km road projects had been taken up at a cost of Rs. 2,000 crore in various panchayats across Andhra Pradesh.

The Minister inspected ongoing road works taken up as part of Pushkaram works at Ibrahimpatnam, Pavitra Sangamam, Gollapudi and Surayapalem among other places. He a target of 5,000 km road projects was set for 2016-17.

He said in the wake of the forthcoming Pushkarams, 244 panchayat roads works had been taken up at a cost of Rs. 144 crore in Krishna and Guntur districts. Of them, 133 roads were in Krishna, 74 in Guntur and 36 in Kurnool and the plan was to complete them by Junly 20.

The Minister said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was determined to make Krishna Pushkarams more successful than Godavari Pushkarams. To create a grand ambiance for the occasion, the Pushkar ghats were being decked up and these adornments would become a permanent feature to attract tourists from outside to the city, he said. Later, speaking to reporters, he said each panchayat in the State would be given Rs. 10 lakh to construct graveyards. Panchayat bodies must utilise these funds for construction of a compound wall, sheds and sinking bore wells. He said as part of its endeavour to usher in economic prosperity in the 13,000 panchayat bodies across the State, the Government was trying to improve basic amenities and other facilities.


THE HINDU