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In a major boost to the Telangana government, the Centre on Friday gave an in-principle approval to construct a Regional Ring Road (RRR) in the state and commence the land acquisition process. The announcement came after a meeting held in New Delhi on Friday between MPs of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Union Minister for Road Transport and Water Resources Nitin Gadkari.
The Telangana government was asked to begin work based on the Detailed Project Report (DPR) submitted to the Centre earlier. The road is expected to pass near towns and cities like Gajwel, Tupran, Sangareddy, Chevella and Bhongir, to name a few.
“The Centre already gave in-principle approval for the northern part of RRR in August. We requested the Centre to notify the southern part as well, thereby covering the entire 362-km stretch. The Telangana government will bear 50 per cent of the cost for land acquisition, to which we have agreed,” TRS Lok Sabha floor leader Jithender Reddy told reporters.
He also said that the RRR would be under the jurisdiction of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and that the Centre assured of speedy action within 10 days, which would involve granting the proposed road a National Highway (NH) number.
In May this year, Gadkari had announced that the Centre would sanction Rs 5,500 crore for laying the RRR around Hyderabad. The proposed 363-km ring road is expected to ease the traffic problem in and around the city and connect several places in Telangana.
The minister had also announced Rs 1,700 crore for Telangana under Central Road Fund (CRF) and asked the state government to submit the proposals for sanctioning. He noted that in the last four years, the central government increased the length of national highways in Telangana from 2,443 km to 5,514 km.
At the time, Gadkari had also advised the Telangana government to develop four satellite cities to ensure that Hyderabad's infrastructure is not further burdened.