[Gulbarga] Centre sanctions Rs. 79 crore for Chowdapur-Afzalpur road

Source: The Hindu

The Union Government has approved the proposal to improve the Chowdapur-Afzalpur road to Maharashtra.

A sum of Rs. 79 crore from the Central Road Fund (CRF) has been sanctioned for this.

According to a communication from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to the Principal Secretary, Public Works Department, the State government has been asked to submit a detailed proposal on the work to be taken up.

Benefit for pilgrims

The Gulbarga-Afzalpur State Highway to the Maharashtra border was one of the worst stretches of the road. It has been a long-pending demand to develop the single-lane road to Deval Ganagapur, a major pilgrimage centre.

The highway was partly covered under the World Bank-aided Karnataka State Highway Improvement Programme (KSHIP) and a 23-km stretch from Gulbarga to Chowdapur was included under KSHIP II. However, a major part of the highway in Chowdapur and Afzalpur was not included.

The proposal to include the road from the Maharashtra border, through Afzalpur town to Chowdapur, under an initiative to develop inter-State connectivity, was first mooted by Union Minister of Labour and Employment M. Mallikarjun Kharge.

However, it did not materialise.

Meanwhile, the State government also approved a Rs. 66-crore proposal under the State Highway Development Project for developing the road. Before the final approval could be given, the Centre gave its green signal.