The Hindu
Mangalore, Nov 19: The Mangalore Circle of the Public Works Department (PWD) will fill potholes on all major roads in the districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu at a cost of Rs. 13.1 crore.
Superintending Engineer of the circle B.S. Balakrishna told presspersons here on Wednesday that the work would be completed by January 15. Besides filling potholes, storm-water drains along the roads would be improved, he added. A sum of Rs. 75,000 to Rs. 1 lakh was needed for maintenance of every km of road. Ideally, the network of 4,200 km of roads in the PWD circle needed about Rs. 40 crore for this purpose. However, the circle could get only Rs. 13.1 crore, he said.
Mr. Balakrishna agreed that there were lapses in adhering to the Indian Road Congress specifications as far as pothole filling work was concerned.
“We are trying to ensure that the specifications are adhered to.”
Quality monitoring would become easier for the authorities of the Mangalore Circle of the PWD as laboratories would be set up in each of the 14 taluk headquarters in the three districts by December 5. A proposal had been submitted to the State Government on setting up a master laboratory in Mangalore at a cost of Rs. 1.5 crore. Quality of aggregates and bitumen mix and that of sand and mud used for road repairs and construction could be tested in the laboratories. Each laboratory was being set up at a cost of Rs. 4 lakh, he said.
Mr. Balakrishna said the Mangalore Circle had got a grant of Rs. 17 crore for repairing roads leading to Ujire, where the World Tulu Conference will be held from December 10. The department had started improving the roads but rains had hampered the work, he said, and added that the work would be completed as scheduled.
The roads that are being improved are: Kadur-Kanhangad Road (at a cost of Rs. 6 crore); Uppinangady-Guruvayanakere (Rs. 3 crore); Periyashanthi-Dharmasthala (Rs. 2 crore); Guruvayanakere-Naravi (Rs. 1.3 crore); Mani-Ullal Road (Rs. 1.2 crore); Belthangady-Moodbidri-Mulky Road (Rs. 2 crore); Mangalore-Atradi Road (Rs. 90 lakh); and Surathkal-Kabaka Road (Rs. 60 lakh).
Building maintenance
Regarding a complaint that the PWD building opposite Nehru Maidan was not being maintained well, he said the PWD occupied only a portion of the building and it was the responsibility of authorities of other departments functioning from the building to maintain the portions they had occupied.
However, at the insistence of the district in-charge Minister J. Krishna Palemar, his department had offered to clean the premises. A committee of top officials from various departments would monitor the maintenance in future, he added.