Road damage worth -- Rs 3,263 cr
Aid released -- Rs 931 cr only
* The combined length of roads/bridges damaged due to floods in rural areas in the State is 25,438.89 kms
* 8,392.97 kms of roads/bridges in Vidarbha damaged
By Kartik Lokhande
Floods and excessive rainfall inflicted a
widespread damage to roads, bridges, and infrastructure this Monsoon. In
Government’s own admission, the damage to roads and bridges require a
whopping amount of Rs 3,263.1483 crore. However, official data reveals
that only Rs 931.6177 crore aid has been released so far for repairs of
roads and bridges.
Though all 11 districts of Vidarbha region, three districts of
Marathwada, and one district of Nashik Division were the worst-affected
by floods and excessive rainfall, maximum aid has gone to Pune Division
which is home to powerful political leaders in the State. In fact, funds
for repairs of damaged roads and bridges were supposed to be released
to only those districts affected by floods and excessive rainfall.
However, all have been given the share. The amount is so minimal that
financial assistance provided so far could help only in patch-works.
Interestingly, the Government report states that roads and bridges were
damaged in 33 districts of Maharashtra. Of a total 25,438.89 kms of
roads/bridges length damaged, the length of 8,392.97 kms is in Vidarbha
region alone. The damaged roads/bridges require an amount of Rs 368.9444
crore for temporary repairs, and a whopping Rs 2,894.2039 crore for
major repairs. Thus, the Government itself has admitted that the damage
is of a serious nature and in most cases, resurfacing is needed. Of a
total amount of Rs 3,263.1483 crore required for repairs in State,
Vidarbha region alone requires Rs 960.618 crore.
A review of the situation was taken some time ago in the cabinet
meeting. It came to fore that budgetary allocation for Public Works
Department (PWD) was Rs 1,790 crore. From that, it was decided to make
available Rs 25 crore to ‘districts affected by floods and excessive
rainfall’. PWD was asked to expedite repair works. However, according to
MLA Ashish Jaiswal, when it came to distribution of financial aid, all
the districts were given the funds for repairs of roads/bridges.
“Districts that did not record damage to roads due to floods and
excessive rainfall, were not supposed to get fund. However, they also
got funds. In some cases, release of funds to such districts was more
than that to affected districts. This has been the case since long. The
Government has been favouring ‘influential’ districts in non-plan
expenditure by diverting funds meant for Vidarbha,” Jaiswal told ‘The
Hitavada’.
According to Jaiswal, apart from all 11 districts of Vidarbha region,
Nandurbar in Nashik Division was affected by floods and excessive
rainfall. Other three districts affected by heavy rainfall were Nanded,
Parbhani, and Hingoli in Marathwada region. Still, he alleged, funds
were released to 34 districts instead of affected 15.
Another issue is that of adequacy of funds. When the damage is so
widespread, how could the Government expect repairs to be done from
one-third of the total requirement of funds, Jaiswal asked.
 |
(Published in The Hitavada CityLine on December 15, 2013)
|
Extra funds for ‘influential’ distts
Though the minutes of the cabinet meeting
state that districts that had received excessive rainfall should get Rs
25 crore for repair of roads and bridges, some ‘influential’ districts
got more funds than that.
There are 11 districts that got more than Rs 25 crore. These include
Thane (Rs 25.79 crore) and Raigad (Rs 27.47 crore) in Mumbai division;
Ahmednagar (Rs 50.70 crore), Nashik (Rs 41.57 crore), and Jalgaon (Rs
31.56 crore) in Nashik Division; Nanded (Rs 27.02 crore) in Marathwada
Division; Amravati (Rs 26.0347 crore) in Amravati Division; and all five
districts in the ‘most influential’ Pune Division.
Pune Division should have got Rs 125 crore for five districts, but it
has got Rs 188.6873 crore, which is more than Rs 63 crore extra! The
district-wise allocation in this division is as follows: Pune-- Rs
47.5931 crore, Satara-- Rs 34.7490 crore, Solapur-- Rs 45.2164 crore,
Kolhapur-- Rs 28.9027 crore, and Sangli-- Rs 32.2262 crore.
Coincidentally, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar
hails from Pune district apart from other tall leaders, Chief Minister
Prithviraj Chavan hails from Satara district, Union Home Minister
Sushilkumar Shinde’s home-district is Solapur, Minister of State (Home)
Satej Patil is from Kolhapur, and Home Minister R R Patil, Rural
Development Minister Jayant Patil, and Relief and Rehabilitation
Minister Dr Patangrao Kadam hail from Sangli district.
Damage to roads, bridges in Vidarbha
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District Length of damaged Fund required
roads/bridges for repairs
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Nagpur 1,956 kms Rs 158.67 cr
Wardha 780.95 kms Rs 11.17 cr
Bhandara 842 kms Rs 95.8770 cr
Gondia 676.60 kms Rs 97.22 cr
Chandrapur 939.83 kms Rs 87.2640 cr
Gadchiroli 772.18 kms Rs 102 cr
Nagpur Division 5,967.56 kms Rs 552.201 cr
Amravati 1,193 kms Rs 198.6265 cr
Akola 159.70 kms Rs 22.40 cr
Buldhana 159.86 kms Rs 28.2875 cr
Washim 201 kms Rs 49.1030 cr
Yavatmal 711.85 kms Rs 110 cr
Amravati Division 2,425.41 kms Rs 408.417 cr
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Total 8,392.97 kms Rs 960.618 cr
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