Road-under-Bridge to come up at Safilguda

Hyderabad, Jan 25 (INN): The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation on Tuesday decided to sanction the construction of the Road Under Bridge (RUB) at Safilguda level crossing at a cost of Rs 31.12 crore. The Railways will construct the RUB.

Speaking to media persons after the GHMC's Standing Committee meeting held at its head office at Tank Bund on Tuesday, Mayor Banda Karthika Reddy revealed that the proposal was initiated by GHMC but was held up for want of land to be acquisitioned from the defence authorities.

She said that M/s STUP consultants was entrusted with the preparation of detailed project report and they have submitted the report and worked out for both the alternatives of ROB and RUB. The proposal of ROB was also re-examined and thorough study of the existing land profile suggested the feasibility of the construction of RUB for following advantages.

The ROB, if constructed at the required slope of 4 percent terminated beyond the junction, where as the RUB keep the junction active. There is substantial reduction of land acquisition ie 14,000 sq m required for ROB against 11,000 sqm required for RUB. Railway authorities were requested to furnish the estimates for railway portion, so as to workout cost on GHMC side and seek necessary administrative approval.

Accordingly, the GAD for the RUB at level crossing near Safilguda station was finalized by GHMC after due concurrence from the town planning wing of GHMC. The proposed RUB is a four-lane underpass. The GAD with the estimate for the approaches (excluding cost of railway portion) for Rs 16.07crores was communicated to railways.

Railway authorities after due study have accepted the GAD from railways point of view and have also communicated the same along with their estimate for underpass in railway portion.

The railway authorities while accepting the four lane bridge proper with approaches in the GAD have stuck to the 2 land underpass for calculating the cost sharing proposals and are insisting for extra cost on account of four lane be borne by the road authorities viz GHMC. The cost is shared in the ratio of 1:3 by railways and road authorities for four lane works.

The GHMC is placed before general body through the standing committee, GHMC for recommending to AP government for according administrative sanction for an amount of Rs 31,12,48,650 with the GHMC share of Rs 24,30,99,891 and railway share of Rs 6,81,49,759. The GHMC has also decided to appoint 968 drivers and 1,512 labourers on outsourcing basis for a six month period.

Mayor Banda Karthika Reddy said that the GHMC will buy sports and gymnasium material at the cost of Rs 2 lakh. This money would be used from the Corporators' funds, she said. Apart from this, the powers of the Industrial Area Local Authorities (IALAs) would be taken over by the GHMC, the Mayor revealed. The IALAs earlier had the powers to collect taxes and accord building permissions in 22 municipal areas. They were also empowered to remit 35 to 50 per cent of the collected tax to the concerned municipalities. The government had merged 12 municipalities surrounding the city to form the GHMC.