The Hindu 11.09.2009
MCC to lay first-ever six-lane concrete road
Staff Correspondent
| Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd to bear the entire Rs. 30-crore cost of the project |
The proposed 4.75-km stretch will have
a 65-ft carriage way
Water supply to habitual payment defaulters will be stopped: Mayor
— Photo: R. Eswarraj 
EXPLAINING: Mayor M. Shankar Bhat addressing a press meet in Mangalore on Thursday. Deputy Mayor Rajani Duganna is to his left.
MANGALORE: Mangalore City Corporation will upgrade the tarred stretch between Surathkal Junction and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) Gate that leads to Bajpe Road into a six-lane concrete road, Mayor M Shankar Bhat said here on Thursday.
Mr. Bhat told presspersons here that the project of upgrading the 4.75-km stretch was estimated to cost Rs. 30 crore. The MRPL had agreed to bear the entire cost of the project at a meeting held to this effect a few days ago. The civic body would carry out the road work, he said.
The proposed 100-ft-wide road would have a 65-ft carriage way (the portion of the road on which vehicles ply) and the rest of the area would be for medians and footpaths. The corporation was preparing the plan of the project, which was likely to begin in a month’s time, the Mayor said.
Stating that the proposed road would pass through Kana and Bala villages, he said that in addition to bus stops, the stretch would have public toilets on its sides.
When completed, it would be the maiden six-lane concrete road of Mangalore, he added.
The MRPL had donated 12 fogging machines to the civic body, recently. It had agreed to bear the salary of six health workers recruited by the corporation on contract basis. The salary of these six workers put together worked out to Rs. 26,000 a month, he said.
The Mayor said that the oil company had promised to donate Rs. 20 lakh to the “Mangalajyoti”, an integrated special childrens’ school at Vamanjoor, for constructing a dining hall and class rooms in that school. In addition, it had agreed to donate a mobile van to provide library services in the city, he said.
The Mayor said that 15 stretches of roads coming under the civic body’s jurisdiction were being concreted. The 1.16-km Kadri Kambala Road, connecting the Circuit House with Kadri-Bunts Hostel Road, would be concreted at a cost of Rs. 2.15 crore. Some people had taken the law into their own hands as they had recently removed the road markers put up by the corporation at Valencia for concreting. Each marker put up there had cost Rs. 300 to Rs. 500 for the corporation. If such activities were not stopped immediately, the civic body would file cases against the culprits, he warned.
Mr. Bhat said that the civic body would soon launch a drive to disconnect water supply connections of those who were not paying their bills, wantonly. The connections of those people, who had not paid their water bills because they contained exorbitant charges, would not be cut now. Another water adalat would be conducted during next week to resolve such cases. Later, water supply to proven defaulters would be stopped. A final decision on how to go about the drive would be taken at the water adalat, he said.
Referring to illegal water connections in the areas between Thumbe and the city, Mr. Bhat said that the corporation had disconnected a few of such connections. However, it had come to the notice of the corporation that a few persons had got the lines re-connected. The civic body would take legal action against such persons, he said.
