Union Minister Kishan Reddy urges Telangana CM to address land acquisition delays for National Highway projects

In his letter to the Telangana CM, Union Minister Reddy highlighted that works worth an estimated Rs 12,619.27 crore are stuck due to pending land acquisition in the state.

"From the formation of a separate Telangana state in 2014 to today, more than 2,500 km of additional national highways have been constructed under the leadership of Modi in these 11 years. This shows the commitment of the Central Government led by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, towards the development of roads in the state of Telangana," Kishan Reddy said.

"Apart from this, another 2,500 km long national highway projects are in various stages of construction in the state. Apart from the Regional Ring Road, there are 16 National Highway projects in various stages (sanctioned/under bidding/ready to be sanctioned) covering a length of 691.52 km at an estimated cost of Rs 12,619.27 crore," he added.

The Union Minister further mentioned that these 16 National Highway projects require 1,550.529 hectares of land for construction.

"Several letters have been written to the State Government officials and the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways/National Highways Corporation officials regarding the acquisition of this land. However, till now only 904.097 hectares of land has been acquired by the State Government and handed over to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH)/National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Another 646.432 hectares of land is yet to be acquired by the State Government and handed over to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways/NHAI," G Kishan Reddy said.

"Therefore, I request you to personally intervene in this regard and provide the required land for the respective national highway projects in a timely manner and take steps to complete the projects within the stipulated time," the Union Minister wrote to the Telangana CM. (ANI)