Kalasa main road yet to see concrete work

Silence of PWD officials raises doubt

If everything had pulled off well, then the Car (Ratha) of Lord Kalaseshwara would have been pulled by devotees on smooth concrete road.

Unfortunately, this important project has failed due to lack of commitment from Public Work Department Officers. The project of Rs one crore to lay concrete road from Manjinakatte circle to Kalaseshwara temple was approved nearly a year ago.

The tender process was also completed soon and the work should have been completed by now.

If this seven mts wide concrete road work had completed then several problems seen on Kalasa main road would have been solved. But, since there are lots of obstacles to this project, there are doubts over this project seeing day’s light.

Kalasa Gram Panchayat had told PWD officials to first clear the either sides of the road by 6 ft each and then take up the road work. The Panchayat even marked 6 ft on both sides of the road six months ago. While some remained silent about the road widening proposal, some threatened to move to the Court. Due to this the road work never took off.

“We do not oppose road widening or concrete road. We demand shifting of drinking water pipeline which is beneath the existing road, before the road work is taken up,” said N M Harsha, a local resident who will lose his land during land widening. He says that the Deputy Commissioner should issue official notice of acquisition of land.

Taluk Panchayat Member Sheshagiri, who had toiled to get the fund released for the project under Western Ghat Development Project, says that a sum of Rs eight lakh has been earmarked for the pipelines. The work will start during second week of February. “Let this pipeline not be an impediment to the project,” he said.

However, there are all possibilities of Assistant Commissioner convening a meeting at Kalasa to discuss over the road widening issue. But the silence of PWD officials is fuelling suspicion.