Bids for Gurupur bridge hangs in the balance

July 12, 2013 12:25 pm | Updated 12:25 pm IST - MANGALORE

B.Ramanath Rai presides over an meeting at the Dakshina kannada zilla Panchayat, for the progress of work of Karnataka Development Programme in Mangalore on July 11, 2013. Photo: R.Eswarraj

B.Ramanath Rai presides over an meeting at the Dakshina kannada zilla Panchayat, for the progress of work of Karnataka Development Programme in Mangalore on July 11, 2013. Photo: R.Eswarraj

The Tourism Department’s process of inviting bids and awarding contracts to construct a pedestrian suspension bridge across the Phalguni (Gurupur river) from Sultan Bathery to Tannirbavi came under scrutiny at a review meeting here on Thursday.

Mangalore City South MLA J. R. Lobo said the department can invite bids only if one-third of the estimated cost of the project was released by the government. But in this case, though only Rs. one crore had been released against the estimated cost of Rs. 12 crore, the department invited bids and began construction this January. According to the proposal the works should be completed in one year; the MLA questioned officials on how this would be completed without sufficient funds.

A tourism department official replied that the decision to invite bids had been taken by the tourism development committee headed by the then Deputy Commissioner. The bids had been invited expecting Rs. 4 crore grant from the government.

No Aadhaar cards

The Additional Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada K. A. Dayananda said here on Thursday that the government has stopped sending Aadhaar cards to those who enrolled for it from April 2013. A copy of the card can be obtained by logging on to www.uidai.gov.in.

At a review meeting, Mr. Dayananda said that there are 17 Aadhaar registration centres in the district and 14 smart card registration centres in rural areas under the National Population Register scheme. Those who have registered for smart cards can also apply for Aadhar cards, but those who have registered for Aadhar cards will have to register separately to obtain smart cards, due to software access issues.

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