With the district administrations of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi blaming the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the mess along National Highway 66, the lifeline of the districts, PWD Minister H.D. Revanna on Tuesday said that he will hold a meeting in Bengaluru shortly.
Presiding over a meeting here, Mr. Revanna asked PWD Secretary Krishna Reddy to hold a meeting with NHAI officials from the Mangaluru project office in a week to iron out the issues.
Udupi Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis complained that a schoolgirl getting washed away in artificial floods at Padubidri on May 29 could be attributed to lopsided four-laning work being undertaken by NHAI.
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She also said the authority had not taken sufficient care while four-laning NH 66 at Ottinene Hillock in Byndoor taluk where frequent landslips are being reported this year too.
Ms. Francis also complained about the delay in completing the flyover work at Shastri Circle in Kundapur. Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner S. Sasikanth Senthil said that NHAI’s incomplete works at Pumpwell and Thokkottu were the main reasons for artificial flooding in the surroundings of the city.
Mr. Senthil suggested to the Minister to arrange for proper rainwater drains at regular intervals along the Ghat course to prevent landslips.
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Mr. Revanna felt that the construction of a retaining wall along the hillock could be a permanent solution. The Minister directed NH division of PWD to keep earthmovers on call at both ends of the Charmadi Ghat to attend to landslips.
Mr. Revanna said that superintending engineers and executive engineers are authorised to undertake repair works up to ₹25,000 a km without waiting for government approval or calling tenders.
The government would release amounts as sought by district administrations towards damage to roads, he added.