Shortage of funds delays road repairs in Faridabad

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, February 22

Against the requirement of funds to the tune of Rs 125 crore for road repair in various Assembly segments of the district, the PWD has approved just Rs 40 crore in the past one year, said sources in the department. The lack of funds has allegedly led to the delay in the repair of roads in the district.

As many as 74 roads were described as damaged in the PWD report. These include 10 roads in the Faridabad Assembly segment, 19 in Tigaon, 21 in Prithla, 11 in NIT, 10 in Badkhal and three in the Ballabgarh Assembly segment. The sources claimed that the length of such roads was around 200 kilometres. The officials said budget estimates had been approved for 11 roads in Tigaon, seven in the Prithla segment, five in NIT, two in Ballabgarh and one in the Faridabad Assembly segment.

An official, on the condition of anonymity, said though the state government had announced a budget of Rs 25 crore for each Assembly segment last year, only Rs 40 crore had been approved so far.

The sources claimed that most of the damaged roads were within the rural limits.

The matter was also raised in the ongoing state Assembly session by one of the MLAs of the district. He had pulled up the officials of the department for the delay in road repair work in the constituency. It is claimed that the officials had blamed it on the shortage of funds and had sought two months’ time in this regard. The sources in the district administration said a similar situation prevailed in the other constituencies as sufficient funds were not sanctioned.

Pradeep Sindhu, Executive Engineer, PWD, said as the budget estimates of 22 roads had been approved, the funds for the remaining roads were expected to be cleared soon.