By R B Jagadish

Daijiworld Media Network—Karkala (EP)

Karkala, May 6 : Members of the municipal council expressed their anger with regard to the poor quality work performed by the contractor at Karkala APMC yard.

The members took an unanimous decision not to make the payment to the contractor. Belthangady resident Jayakumar is the contractor of the work.

The contractor had undertaken the work on a 800 meter long road at Karkala APMC yard. The contract sum is approximately Rs 16.50 lacs.

The tar work has been carried out with indiscriminate use of baby gravel. In some places, the old tar is visible and gravel powder is sprinkled over such places in order to cover the area. Though it is mentioned in the contract document that the work is for smooth finish road work, the road is still uneven. The road roller used in the work is also very old and not suitable for smooth finish road work.

The work has been completed by mixing tar and gravel with fire from firewood. The APMC officials, president, and directors had raised objections to the work when it was underway but the contractor had continued with the work without listening to them.

The drainage work is also alleged to be of poor quality. The beading work is so inferior that the gravel stones have come out from the cement. The amount of sand used in the work is much more than the permissible limits.

Moreover, all the contracts are assigned to the same contractor Jayakumar. The contract amounts are Rs 16.50 lacs for road, Rs 11 lacs for drainage, Rs 15 lacs for warehouse work, and Rs 5.50 lacs for the residence of staff.

The administration of APMC had come forward to get the work conducted. The tenders have been called as per rules. Balakrishna Hegde, president of APMC, said that only the engineer and the contractor are responsible for the poor quality work.