One half of the 100-m stretch of a tarred road near Marnamikatte has been dug up for a month now. Another two-lane concrete road between Marnamikatte and Koti Chennayya Circle has not been opened to traffic, even though it was almost ready more than three weeks ago.
Residents of the area attribute these inconveniences to lack of coordination between the contractors and the corporation authorities, and improper planning. On Saturday, a fresh problem arose when an earthmover damaged water pipelines at three places near Koti Chennayya Circle.
Autorickshaw drivers at Marnamikatte said the road should not have been dug up if the planners were not sure of taking up the work.
Residents of the area pointed out that the curing of a new concrete road from Marnamikatte Circle to Koti Chennayya Cricle was over 20 days ago. “The authorities have not taken steps to open this road to traffic,” said T.K. Sudhir, a resident and district secretary of the Congress.
M.K. Bhasker, Executive Engineer of the corporation, was under the impression that traffic had been allowed on this stretch.
On being told about the reality, he promised to get it opened in two days.
The contractor also promised to open the stretch to traffic from Monday. Mr. Bhasker and the contractor said that the road was dug up near Marnamikatte Circle for the concreting work. But the entire project staff and machinery had to be diverted after the corporation decided to first complete the stretch between Valentia Circle and Koti Chennayya Circle in view of the problems being faced by the road-users there. This work would be completed by February-end. The earlier work would begin later, they said.
Meanwhile, the concreting of the stretch between Koti Chennayya Circle and Madhusudan Kushe School was taken up on Saturday. But, the earthmover being used there damaged the water pipeline at three places within about 150 metres from Koti Chennayya Circle on the Attavar Main Road.
While Attavar councillor Vijayalakshmi put the blame on the contractor, Mr. Bhaskar said this had not come to his notice. He, however, promised to look into the problem.
