PANAJI
As citizens are eagerly waiting for the State government to repair the pothole laden State roads, the cash-starved Public Works Department (PWD) has no funds to undertake the immediate work.
The department has exhausted its budgetary limit of Rs 90 crore, allocated towards repair, maintenance and construction of State roads for the ongoing financial year.
PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral claimed that the problem has exacerbated after the National Highway Authority (NHA) directed to take up construction of Western bypass using State funds for now and it would be reimbursed later. The department has spent over Rs 165 cr on the project so far, of which Rs 70-80 crore have been spent in the current financial year.
“We never thought the Western bypass will come to our head. We thought the Centre would support us. NHA was supposed to fund the project,” Cabral said, adding “we cannot keep the project on hold as it is a necessity and it is also monitored by the High Court. Contractor also needs to be paid in a time bound manner to see that work is not affected”.
“Hence, we have exhausted our road budget. We had to divert the money to some other work. Now we have to use money from the consolidated fund,” the Minister said.
For the current financial year, an overall budget allocation for PWD was around Rs 2600 crore of which, according to the Minister, Rs 90 crores were earmarked for State roads.
Cabral said that a meeting with the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is scheduled post National Games, for release of additional funds to the department towards repair of roads. “The Chief Minister is aware about the situation and also other Cabinet colleagues. Due to the National Games, the CM is busy. The solution will be worked out soon,” he said.
Admitting that the State roads need urgent attention, Cabral said that calibration of roads will commence by the end of November or first week of December. “Once the money is released from the consolidated funds, we will issue work orders,” he said.
