In a knee-jerk reaction to JSP president Pawan Kalyan’s proposed ‘shramadaan’ to repair the Puttaparthi-Dharmavaram State Highway at Kothacheruvu on Saturday, the R&B Department had hurriedly filled all the deep potholes and black-topped the entire badly damaged portion on Thursday night.
Mr. Pawan Kalyan was scheduled to reach Kothacheruvu in the district at 2 p.m. and start relaying the more than 1-km badly damaged portion of the road in the village after participating in a similar protest on Dowleswaram Barrage in East Godavari district.
While the JSP president was denied permission to undertake the protest programme at Dowlesawaram, he was given the go-ahead in Anantapur district.
Superintendent of Police Fakkeerappa Kaginelli told The Hindu that the JSP had been permitted to organise the programme in conformity with all the COVID-19 protocols.
About 200 metres road stretch in Kothacheruvu limits, which is the gateway to Puttaparthi for those coming from the Dharmavaram side, has been non-motorable for the past six months.
The R&B could not take up repairs and patch works on the remaining stretch as the contractor allegedly refusal of begin work unless the previous balance was paid by the government.
R&B Superintending Engineer R. Nagaraju said the work had been completed on Thursday by asking the contractor / agency that won the tenders to execute it on a priority basis.
“Temporary repairs done earlier did not solve the problem,” he said.
