The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) fears that the Rs. 70 lakh spent to build a pedestrian underpass at Kirimanjeshwara in Kundapura taluk on NH 66 that is being four-laned might go waste as the Udupi Deputy Commissioner has directed the authority to scrap the project.
It is part of the four-laning of NH 66 between Kundapura and Goa border and is being executed by the NHAI through IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd., at a cost of Rs. 1,790 crore on design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis. In his September 14 letter, Udupi Deputy Commissioner T. Venkatesh asked the NHAI either to relocate the underpass so that more people could get benefited or provide a surface ‘U’-turn divider.
Z. Samson Vijay Kumar, NHAI Project Director, Mangaluru, told The Hindu that the facility was part of the detailed project report. The work, which was halted for a while, began again after the then Deputy Commissioner R. Vishal asked the authority to continue it. He wondered how the successor could reverse the decision.
If the underpass had to be scrapped, the NHAI would have to compensate the contractor, which means a waste of public money, he said. Mr. Kumar said he would meet the Deputy Commissioner soon and apprise him of the complexities. The argument that the underpass was not useful did not hold water as it was planned to cater to the future growth of the region, he said. Mr. Kumar said that the people should have opposed it in the initial stages itself and not when it was nearing completion.
In his order, the official said that during his inspection on August 29, he found that there were no public utilities on either side of the underpass and it was useless. The gram panchayat too had opposed it, he said.
Mr. Venkatesh told this correspondentthat over 450 people, including many belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, submitted a signed memorandum opposing the project. When asked about the dangers involved in crossing the busy highway on its surface, the Deputy Commissioner said that he did not want to say anything, “I have issued the order, that’s all,” he said.
District in-charge Minister Pramod Madhwaraj said that both the groups had approached him. The official did not consult him before issuing the order. As it was a Central project, let the local MP take a call, he told The Hindu .
