Navayuga Udupi Tolloway Pvt. Ltd., the concessionaire building the four-lane National Highway 66 between Talapady and Kundapur, appears all set to fail to complete work on the Thokkottu and Pumpwell flyovers before the fresh deadline, and thereby cause embarrassment to MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.
Thus, the hopes of Mr. Kateel to get at least one flyover ready by the time he faces the battle of ballots on April 18, would go in vain thereby equipping the Opposition parties with a strong salvo of words during the polls.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had, on March 5, given a fresh deadline of March 31 for completing work on the Thokkottu and May 31 for the Pumpwell flyovers, while laying the foundation stone for the Kulai fishing harbour through video conferencing. The Minister had also stated that the Ministry had arranged ₹ 55 crore funds for the cash-starved concessionaire to complete the works within the deadline.
Even after a fortnight of this announcement, things are not going on as desired at both the locations with the concessionaire going slow as usual on work. Soil filling to complete the embankment for up and down ramps at Thokkottu Junction has come to a standstill and it may not be possible to commission the flyover by March 31.
Similarly, the Minister’s Private Secretary Vaibhav Dange during his visit to the project sites on March 1 along with MP Nalin Kumar Kateel had set March 15 as the deadline to complete work on the service roads near the Pumpwell flyover and April 10 to complete the vehicular underpass at Ujjodi. Here too, work has not moved an inch after their visit.
Poll issue
Incomplete road infrastructure in Dakshina Kannada has become an issue for the Opposition in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. While the former district in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai had taken out a padayatra from Nelyadi to BC Road a month ago in protest against the delay in four-laning National Highway 75 , Minister U.T. Khader led a padayatra from Talapadi to Pumpwell a few weeks ago in protest against the delay in completing the two crucial flyovers. Navayuga has been four-laning NH 66 for nearly a decade and it has left several crucial stretches, including Thokkottu and Pumpwell in Dakshina Kannada, Padubidri, Karavali bypass in Udupi and Shastri Circle in Kundapur, incomplete. Despite reminders and warnings by various authorities, the concessionaire has failed to complete the project despite collecting toll for the last two years.
