Seven years on, the light at the end of the tunnel still appears as a faint, distant spot.
During the foundation stone laying ceremony for the Mini Vidhana Soudha in the city in August 2007, the then Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa had set a deadline of one year for the construction to be completed.
In the last seven years, the building has passed numerous deadlines, and the project cost has risen from Rs. 6 crore in its inception to Rs. 7.5 crore now. However, Public Works Department officials, who are executing the project, are confident of completing the remaining work by the end of the year.
“The deadline is September this year, and we will complete it by then,” said G.R. Naik, Assistant Executive Engineer, PWD. He said apart from the construction of two domes, most of the structural work had been completed.
“Finishing works take time, and indoor works can be done even during the monsoons,” he said.
When completed, the Mini Vidhana Soudha – coming up in the Mangalore taluk panchayat premises – will house a three-storey 3,712 sq feet complex, spread over ground and two floors. The plans include basement parking, record room and store room; taluk office, sub registrar’s office, meeting and court halls, among others in the ground floor; the office of the Assistant Director of Land Records in the first and second floor.
A reason for the delay is the intermittent release of funds for the building that is being executed in three phases, said PWD officials. While Rs. 2 crore was released in 2007 itself for the construction of a cellar and ground floor, Rs. 1.5 crore for structural work on the first floor was released only around 2010. Work resumed only after the release of the third phase amount of Rs. 4 crore in 2012.
New workplace hopesWhile the completion of the project would come as a boon to the public who currently have to deal with waiting in the “temporary” Mangalore taluk office in the Deputy Commissioner’s Office complex, officials at the Tahsildhar’s and the Assistant Commissioners’ office eagerly await a “more encouraging” work environment. “The old building is damp, mouldy and leaks during the monsoons. We have to keep an eye on the records as there is a real danger that they will get destroyed,” said an official at Tahsildar office.
