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COMMUNICATIONS
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INTRODUCTION
THE EARLIEST INFORMATION ABOUT ROADS AND OTHER MEANS OF
TRANSPORT IN YEOTMAL DISTRICT is available from the closing years of the last
century. Till the year 1915 there was no railway line in the district. The Great Indian Peninsula railway line from Nagpur to Bombay, however, ran at a distance varying from four to sixteen miles from the northern border of the district, while the Delhi-Madras railway line ran parallel to the eastern border at a distance of about seven miles [History of Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways, 1957.].
The condition of roads in the district was extremely unsatisfactory even up to 1866. There was not a single properly made road in the five tahsils of the district up to 1866. At the time of the original settlement from 1872 to 1875, there were a few partially metalled roads from Yeotmal to Galegaon in Chandur tahsil and to Kalam. The Yeotmal Dhamangaon road was under construction. The roads were classified according to whether they were maintained by Public Works Department or District Board or country roads. The roads under the management of Works Department were partially metalled and partially surfaced with gravel or similar material. These roads were either bridged or provided with stone causeways at every nallah. Another interesting feature was that trees were planted on the sides of these roads. Such roads, according to the Yeotmal District Gazetteer, were made firstly from Yeotmal to Dhamangaon having road length of 29 miles, Yeotmal to Darwha 27 miles and Yeotmal to Wun 67 miles; secondly from Wun to Warora 16 miles; thirdly from Darwha to Karanja 24 miles; fourthly from Pusad to Washim 39 miles; and lastly from Khandala to Umarkhed a distance of 31 miles. Among these roads the longest road of 67 miles was the Yeotmal-Wun route, about half of which was metalled and and the other half surfaced with murum. The cost of construction of a road surfaced only with murum and partially bridged and drained was about Rs. 2,500 a mile, and cost of maintenance of either a metalled or gravelled road was about Rs. 300 a mile annually.
Besides these, there were roads maintained by District Board from Yeotmal to Kalam, from Lohara (3 miles from Yeotmal) to Lasdina and for shorter distances in a few other places. Such roads were inferior to those under Works Department and their cost of maintenance was put at Rs. 200 a mile.
About the country roads the District Gazetteer of Yeotmal states that there were a little over 200 miles of made roads in the district, and some thousands of miles of country roads. The
condition of the country roads which could hardly be called roads was extremely unsatisfactory. Anybody forced to travel in the rainy season was confronted with unsurmountable difficulties.
Subsequently, however, the British administration improved the condition of many roads. As the district depended mainly upon road communications the ruling authorities improved the condition of the main roads, such as, the Yeotmal-Wardha road, the Yeotmal-Dhamangaon road, the Yeotmal-Amravati road, etc. The Nagpur-Hyderabad road which passed through the district received the urgent attention of the authorities and was improved from time to time.
After Independence much progress has been made in respect of road communications. The important centres in the district are now connected by roads with the adjoining districts of Nanded, Parbhani, Akola, Amravati, Wardha, Chandrapur and the State of Andhra Pradesh. Although the district headquarters is connected with all the tahsil headquarters, some portion of the district which is hilly has fewer roads. During the year 1967-68 the length of the state highways was 351.4 miles and that of major district roads, 427.22 miles. It may, however, be noted that during the decade 1951—61 there was an increase of 246.2 miles, 39.11 miles and 129.33 miles in the length of state highways, major district roads and village roads, respectively. During the same period the length of the other district roads dropped by 4.75 miles probably due to upgrading of some of them to major district roads. The total increase in all types of roads (excluding municipal roads) was 442.68 miles during the decade 1951—61. Under the Nagpur Plan, the district was proposed to have 1,936 miles of roads. It may, however, be noted that the proposed target has not still been reached.
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