Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has expressed its inability in carrying out the road construction work in the left-wing extremist (lWE) areas.
“We have sent a note to the Cabinet for consideration stating we cannot do the phase-II of road construction in lWE-affected areas. Now, the Government has to take a call. There are no bids from private parties due to the fear of Maoists. Moreover, we have no funds. Now, the ball is in Centre’s court,” said an official of the Road Ministry.
In 2009, the UPA Government had approved a scheme for the development of 1,202 km of National Highways and 4,363 km of State roads in Naxal areas of 34 districts in eight States. But in the last four years, the progress has been very slow, with over 30 per cent projects in phase I facing major delays.
MoRTH officials had planned to build about 800 km of roads in Maoist areas in phase-I by 2011-2012, and the remaining 4,765 km was to be completed in phase-II by March 2017.
In the 12th plan, the Centre had planned to spend nearly Rs 20,000 crore from its budgetary funds for developing roads in Naxal areas to enable link routes to these regions. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has assured all help and asked MoRTH to identify more stretches after consulting State police and Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF).
According to the latest report, close to 30 per cent projects are delayed in phase I due to law and order problems. In these States, construction workers are frequently abducted and machinery routinely destroyed.
And for completing the remaining stretches under phase-I, MoRTH requires a gross budgetary support of nearly Rs 3,000 crore, while initial estimates for phase II were stated to be about Rs 13,190 crore.