Project 'Raja Marga' underway

As the name itself suggests it will be a 'Royal Road' in the heritage city of Mysore,  tourists will really get a  feeling of going back to around one hundred years ago. The first phase of work (between Hardinge Circle and K R Circle) is likely to be completed before this year's Dasara festival.

The road between Chamaraja Wadiyar Circle  and Hardinge Circle is closed for next two months to expedite the works on Albert Victor Road. The involvement of various agencies had stymied the pace of the work.

The total distance of the marga will be 4.8 km. It starts from Hardinge Circle and ends at Millennium Circle. It passes through the heritage Chamaraja Wadiyar Circle, Krishnaraja Circle ( K R Circle), New Sayyaji Rao Road, Ayurveda College Circle, Bamboo Bazaar and Bannimantap Road.

This ambitious project has been taken out of  ` 100 crore special grants to recreate history on at least one road in the city. Accordingly, the foundation stone for this project was laid by Urban Development Minister S Sureshkumar last year.

The highlights of this project are carved stone barricade, slabs to cover storm water drain, ornamental lamps and tiles. These depict royal days of the Wadiyars of Mysore.

This project, perhaps, is first of its kind as no other city has tried it. Panaji City had beautiful ornamental street lamps, but now they have been removed.

The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) which has been implementing this project has rejected several proposals submitted by various consultants as they failed to match heritage.

Each and every work has to blend with the heritage of the city. Every care is being taken so that the beauty of the city is not affected. According to sources, efforts are made to complete the first phase of work up to K R Circle. That means- it would be ready during this year's Dasara festival. Like other projects, even this work too faced several problems. Initially, the Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) declined to shift the underground insulated power cable at its cost.

But, it agreed after the senior officials of the MCC intervened. The mobile companies have been requested to shift the cables from the Albert Victor Road at the earliest. Another uniqueness of the project is that there will be no hanging wire on the entire stretch of Raja Marga. The total cost involved in this project is around 18.65 crore.

The sources said the amount earmarked for the project will be more for the first phase so, that much amount would be spent on development of the important circles like Hardinge Circle, Ayurvedic College Circle and Ramaswamy Circle. All those circles will be developed uniformally.