The long-pending Mani to Sampaje road, which would offer seamless connectivity to Mysore, will be complete by the end of May, said officials of the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meeting held here on Thursday.
Drawing some flak from Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel, who chaired the meeting, the officials were directed to complete all works before the onset of monsoon. Of the 72 km, only 35 km have been completed so far.
“The contractor said internal problems were delaying the work. We have given him till end of May to complete the works,” said the officials.
However, Mr. Kateel pointed out that the works even in the completed portions between Mani and Kabaka were incomplete in patches, while Deputy Commissioner N. Prakash accused KRDCL of not exerting enough pressure on the contractor to ensure that the works were completed. The officials said the 400-m Puttur bypass would be completed by the end of February and potholes on the “completed stretch” would be patched by March 15.
National Highway officials said Rs. 13 crore had been allotted for the work on Shiradi Ghat, and would be completed by April, while the Bellare to Sullia road would be completed by March 15.
The MP was told that although a proposal of Rs. 54.5 crore for 82.4 km had been sent to the Union government under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, funds had not been released in the last three-and-a-half years; whereas under the State Government’s “Namma Grama Namma Raste” scheme, a majority of works of the 212.86 km of road, at a cost of Rs. 109.22 crore, would be completed by the end of March. Among major buildings slated to be completed soon in the district were the new district court building by April and Puttur and Mangalore mini Vidhana Soudha by May.