Ottinene National Highway 66 Hillock Landslide Issue Dominates ZP meeting
Udupi: The landslide on the National Highway 66 near Ottinene dominated the proceedings of the monthly Zilla Panchayat meeting at Manipal here on June 22.
Raising the issue, Gopal Poojary MLA of Byndoor said that in 2012, the National Highways Authority of India had awarded the contract to IRB for widening the stretch on NH-66 from Kundapur to Goa. IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd, which is undertaking the work did not take any safety measures. He blamed the company for the unscientific work of the highway which led to the landslide. The mud removed from the Hillock was dumped in the fields and house sites of local residents. The IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd officials were not attending to any highway-related problems. The MLA pointed out that the highway work, that had commenced three years ago, was not completed owing to the lethargic attitude of the concerned officials. He urged the Deputy Commissioner to take action against the company.
A ZP member also expressed his displeasure over the poor progress in completing the Highway work along with the drainage work of the roads. He said that the contractors were showing negligence in completing the work.
The Deputy Commissioner instructed the company officials to clear the mud which was dumped in the farming land and house sites.
The members pointed that after becoming the chairman of KSRTC, MLA Gopal Poojary has introduced many buses to the rural areas but none of the KSRTC city buses are following the time schedule in the district. If KSRTC buses will function in this manner, there will be a misunderstanding between the private and KSRTC Bus staff. The chairman should instruct the KSRTC bus drivers and conductors to maintain the time. The members also demanded to introduce additional buses for rural areas.
Gopal Poojary said that we have demanded 100 additional buses to Udupi and Mangaluru.
The Deputy Commissioner directed the KSRTC officer to hold an orientation programme for KSRTC bus drivers and conductors as there were a lot of complaints against the buses for not following the timetable as the rules are same for government buses and private buses.
The deputy commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis expressed her displeasure with the Varahi project engineer for not providing a suitable answer for the questions raised by the Zilla Panchayat members. She instructed the Joint Secretary of the Zilla Panchayat to issue a showcase notice to the junior engineer for not attending the ZP meeting.
Various problems such as the vented dam issue, sand policy, Basava Vasathi scheme, Kundapur Taluk Hospital irregularities were also discussed in the meeting.
The House welcomed the move of the state government for waiving the crop loan up to Rs 50,000 per farmer and congratulated the DDPI and DDPU for achieving first place in SSLC and PUC results.
Zilla Panchayat president Dinakar Babu presided over the meeting, Sheela K Shetty vice president, Pratap Chandra Shetty MLC, Uday Kotian, Babu Shetty, Prakashchandra Shetty Standing Committee members were also present.