Roads to be expanded under new scheme
The Hindu
2,200 km will become 4-lane highways
Under the new Chief Minister Road Development Scheme, the Tamil Nadu government will expand State roads of about 2,200 km into four-lane highways over 10 years, Minister for Highways E.V. Velu announced in the Assembly on Friday. Mr. Velu said about 6,700-km roads would be expanded into two-lane roads under the new scheme. In the first phase, roads up to 250 km would be expanded into four-lane highways at a cost of ₹2,000 crore, and roads up to 600 km would be expanded into two-lane highways at a cost of ₹1,200 crore. The government would construct high-level bridges across waterways in lieu of a total of 1,281 old causeways at a cost of ₹2,401 crore. In the first phase, 648 causeways would be replaced with high-level bridges at ₹609 crore, he said. It would undertake the laying of bypass roads in Sivaganga, Parthibanur, Kamuthi, Thiruthuraipoondi, Ambasamudram, Bhavani, Aruppukkottai (West) and Uthiramerur at a cost of ₹595 crore.The Shakti Scheme in Karnataka has completed its first year, yet the smart cards intended for the beneficiaries remain undistributed. According to Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, while the smart cards have been prepared, their issuance has been stalled due to the absence of electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) in all buses, making them impractical.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashok were engaged in war of words over the Lok Sabha election results on Tuesday, with the former calling the latter “ignorant and entertaining people”. In response, Mr. Ashok said the Chief Minister “sometimes wakes up from deep slumber to exhibit his arrogance and anger”.
Makineni Jishnu Sai from Guntur secured the first position in the engineering stream while Yellu Srishant Reddy from Nizampet in Telangana bagged the first place in the Agriculture and Pharmacy (Bi.P.C. stream) in the Andhra Pradesh Engineering, Agriculture and Pharmacy Common Entrance Test (EAPCET)-2024.