UDUPI: Flyovers along NH 66 in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi have proved to be bugbear for members of parliament– Nalin Kumar Kateel and Shobha Karandlaje. If his detractors trolled state BJP chief Nalin for the delay in construction of flyover at pump well, Shobha has taken her share of criticism for the delay on part of the concessionaire – Navayuga Udupi Tollway Private Ltd (NUTPL) – to finish the flyover at Shastri Circle.
The only note of comfort in this decade old saga during which the construction of this flyover has dragged on is a sense of optimism that it will be completed by the end of March this year. K Raju, assistant commissioner, Kundapur said the concessionaire has assured to complete the work by end of this fiscal. “NUTPL has deployed men and machinery to complete one small incomplete portion at Padubidri and will take work on the flyover after that,” he said.
Concurring with this assessment, Shobha told TOI that it is well known that work on the four laning between Talapady to Kundapur hit a major snafu after NUTPL almost keeled over while tottering on the verge of bankruptcy. The pandemic only gave them another excuse to push things along, she said adding work has since picked up pace and one hopes that NUTPL will stick to the March 31 deadline and rid Kundapur of this monumental delay.
A nonplussed Kishore Kumar of the Rashtriya Heddari Horata Samiti, Kundapur, also the vice-president of the district unit of BJP, said that it beats one’s understanding why this project had to drag along for almost a decade. There were no issues with land acquisition or opposition from people for this project. However, the flyover and a kilometre of NH within the town from Vinayaka Talkies to Shastri Circle are yet to be completed, he said.
Blaming the apathy of elected representatives and the bureaucracy for this delay, Kumar said they have tended to be soft on the concessionaire rather than people who have paid the price in the interim. “BJP has not been able to cash in on the fact that all the elected representatives in the coast – including MPs and MLAs are from the saffron party,” he said, adding technical and legal aspects seemed to have tied down their hands vis-à-vis NUTPL.