Against demand of Rs 3,263 cr, Govt releases Rs 931 cr only for road repairs

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

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

District         Length of damaged     Fund required

                        roads/bridges             for repairs

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total            8,392.97 kms             Rs 960.618 cr

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