42 CRIF Road Works In Odisha Halted Due To Fund Crunch, Rs 500 Cr Sought From Centre

Bhubaneswar: Work for at least 42 major roads and bridges has reportedly come to a standstill in Odisha due to undue delay in the release of funds under the Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) Scheme during the current financial year.

As per sources, work has virtually come to a grinding halt in 42 major projects as no fund has been released during the last six months. As a result, road work has failed to make any progress in the last around five months in the state. Contractors are not being paid their dues.

Though several contractors drew the attention of senior Works department officials to the delay in fund release, their efforts are yet to yield any concrete result, sources said.

Some contractors claim that though the Centre had released Rs 165 crore some time back, they are not getting any money, causing resentment among many of them.

In view of resentment among contractors over delay in payment, the Engineer-in-Chief (Civil)-cum-Roads had written to the Principal Secretary of Works Department in October 2024 regarding release of funds under CRIF during 2024-25, official sources said.

Giving details of CRIF works as on September 30, 2024, he had said that a total of 306 projects, including 250 roads and 56 bridges, had been sanctioned involving a toral cost of Rs 5291.41 crore.

While total funds released by the Central government stood at Rs 3610.04 crore, as many as 260 projects, including 216 roads and 44 bridges, had been completed, the letter said.

Stating that utilisation certificates have been submitted for Rs 3702.18 crore, it said the number of ongoing projects stood at 42, including 33 roads and 9 bridges.

It said that the total balance cost of ongoing projects was Rs 1328.50 crore, while during 2024-25, only Rs 113.35 crore has been released against which utilisation of Rs 202.58 crore has been submitted by June 30, 2024. Further expenditure of Rs 109.61 crore has been made from July to September, 2024.

For smooth progress, completion of works in time and to avoid contractual litigation, at least Rs 600 crore is required to be released by the Ministry or Road Transport and Highways under CRIF during 2024-25, the letter said.

Noting that annual accrual for Odisha under CRIF is Rs 331.33 crore, it said the matter may be taken up at higher level so that the balance required fund of Rs 486.65 crore may be released at the earliest.