Govt plans to spend R20,000 cr on building roads in Red Corridor

By 2011-12,about 800 km of LWE roads that are part of phase-I.

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The government plans to spend close to Rs 20,000 crore from its budgetary resources for development of roads in the left wing extremist LWE affected areas in the 12th plan period in order to provide backward and forward linkages to these areas. This may be a conservative estimate,for the ministry of home affairs MHA has asked the ministry of road transport and highways MORTH to identify more stretches after consulting states and security forces.

Even though the government has managed to build just about 251 km out of the targeted 5,477 km roads in LWE areas till 2011-12,it plans to step up work in these states and launch phase II of the LWE roads programme.

We have identified construction of 9,615 km of roads in LWE areas for the next plan period in addition to what we carry forward from the current plan, a senior government official told The Indian Express .

By 2011-12,about 800 km of LWE roads that are part of phase-I are likely to be completed,with the remaining 4,426 km to be completed during the next plan period. Phase I is targeted for completion by March 2015 while we are aiming at completing phase II by March 2017, the official said.

For completing the remaining stretches under phase-I,MORTH requires a gross budgetary support of Rs 5,376 crore,while initial estimates for phase II are about Rs 13,190 crore. Another Rs 1,100 crore is required for connecting Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh and Ranchi in Bihar as per directions of the home ministry.

We may seek a gross budgetary support of Rs 19,666 crore in the next plan period and may need more in case more stretches are identified, the official added.

Officials blame deteriorating law and order conditions in these Left wing extremism-hit LWE states for the slow progress in construction. In these states,construction workers are frequently abducted and machinery routinely destroyed. About Rs 724 crore has been spent so far and and around 3,468 km of works are currently under progress. The government plans to engage locals in the construction to speed up work.

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The LWE highways project was approved by the government in February,2009 and is slated for completion in March,2014 covering 34 districts in eight states. Of the 5,477 km highways to be constructed,1,202 km will be designated as national highways and 4,362 km as state highways.