Bridge over Krishna a major poll plank in Huzurnagar.

A bridge constructed over Krishna river during the previous Congress regime connecting Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has emerged as a major poll plank in Huzurnagar assembly constituency, after the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N Uttam Kumar Reddy challenged the ruling TRS for an open debate on the constituency’s development.

The construction of the bridge, which connects Mattapally village in Suryapet district of Telangana to Tangedu village in Guntur district of AP, began in January 2014 in the undivided state of Andhra Pradesh and was completed in 2018 at a cost of Rs. 50 crore.

Uttam alleged that the TRS government is not laying approach roads as the credit would go to Congress. “The bridge helps people from travelling a distance of 50 km to reach Guntur. There are several cement factories in Huzurnagar constituency and workers from AP depend on the bridge to reach the cement units located here,” he explained.

Stating that the inter-state cement loads are transported through the bridge, Uttam challenged TRS leaders for a debate on the bridge issue. “It is a clear example of how TRS has neglected the Huzurnagar constituency because the voters here had elected me by defeating the TRS candidate,” Uttam said.

Reacting to Uttam’s comments, TRS said Congress is trying to blame the government unnecessarily. “It’s not as if the ruling party is deliberately delaying the construction of the approach roads. The work is stuck over land acquisition,” a TRS leader said.

People in Mattapally said the bridge is a hot political topic, but added that they are not sure as to who is to be blamed for the neglect of the bridge.

Officials said the bridge was not formally inaugurated as the approach roads were not laid due to land acquisition issues.

“We require five acres of forest land to lay the roads. The state government has to give compensatory forest land, the file of which is pending with the forest department. Also, the R&B department does not have money to clear Rs 3 crore bills to the contractor, who has completed the bridge and needs to lay the approach roads,” a senior R&B engineer said.

TOI