The delayed monsoon in north India has upset road building plans in Uttarakhand. Although the officials say that they were expecting a break in work schedule due to yearly monsoon pattern but the staggered and delayed rains will cost them dearly in terms of funds and project completion deadlines.
“The monsoon arrived in the first week of July, and will probably continue all of this month. We were anticipating it by end of August. This delay in rains has come with a mammoth cost as all our manpower and machinery is lying idle,” said an official from the Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
“After the bad spell of rains last year, which left the entire road network in disarray, we had been able to restore connectivity. We were hoping to start on our second phase of work by end of August- early September but the delayed rains have derailed our plans,” said the official. Although, the officials do not have a ready figure to ascertain the losses but they say that it may escalate costs by at least 30 per cent.
last year, under the UPA tenure, the Roads and Highways Ministry had worked out a Rs1,000 crore proposal for medium-term repair of roads and highways. This was planned to be the second phase of development, which had to start post-monsoon.
“We had planned to start work on the second phase of re-building the road network in Uttarakhand post monsoon. We had targeted a two-year completion period but this delay in rains may delay the project by at least six months or even more,” said the official.
“In the past, most roads in Uttarakhand came up in an unplanned manner. Some were made from walking tracks to roads and then to highways and some just came up to join the existing road network. The plan is to re-build the road network in the hills, which will keep the slopes intact — both up the hill and in the valley. This will help prevent frequent landslides,” said the official.The Ministry wants to the give the hill roads, the semblance of national highways, which would not just serve for a “medium term”— for at least five to 10 years.