When a road at Shaheen Nagar went missing!

Times of India: Hyderabad: Tuesday, 07 July 2015.

The case of missing roads in Shaheen Nagar, a neighbourhood along Srisailam highway, which were sanctioned by the Panchayat Raj (PR) Department, has become murkier. As it turns out, the Kothapet gram panchayat (GP), under whose jurisdiction the area falls, recently sent replies to an applicant seeking information on the issue under the Right to Information Act (RTI) which appear to be contradicting each other.

Documents available with TOI reveal that the department entered into a contract for laying two roads, of a combined length of 285 metres, from house numbers 8-13 to 8-242/2 and from 7-88/3 and 8-27 back in 2012. The contract was given to one P Vijay Kumar on nomination basis. An RTI activist noted that one of the roads was not laid and sought relevant information. Responding to his query, PR subdivision (PRSD) of Maheswaram late in 2014 stated that there was no delay in completion of work and that no plans have been changed.

Unconvinced, the applicant recently wrote to the Ranga Reddy district collector stating that the road was re-carpeted at a different place but the records show that the funds were utilised at the original site. He noted that "the fact remains that no such road has been laid" at the intended place. The applicant requested that a thorough probe be ordered. After the second appeal, the matter was heard at the Information Commission. After sending notices for the hearing, the information commissioner S Prabhakar Reddy in his order said that the RTI query was transferred to the deputy executive engineer and hence had failed to provide information.

Surprisingly, the assistant engineer of the PRSD, Maheswaram, V Shanker Reddy, in a letter to the applicant, said that the sanctioned amount is Rs 5 lakh and only 141 metres of the road could be laid, contradicting the information provided to the applicant on the first instance in which no delay was claimed. He also said that the road from house number 7-88/3 was covered by a "CC road".

A twist in the tale came after Mandal Praja Parishad vice president Omar Baom said that the road was laid recently with funds obtained from the 13th Finance Commission and not with funds from the sanctioned amount in 2012. "We have liaised with the department and have got the work done. The road which has been laid has nothing to do with the money sanctioned in 2012," he said.