The Hindu      12.09.2014 

MCC on overdrive to complete road, beautification projects

City corporation Commissioner Chandrashekar G. Betsurmath and other officials inspecting the chairs installed inside the Town Hall, one of venues of Dasara-related cultural programmes, in Mysore on Thursday.— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

Mysore City Corporation (MCC) has gone into overdrive to meet the deadline set by the government for completing road and beautification works in view of Dasara.

While the renovation of the Town Hall has been expedited to ensure that the venue will be ready for hosting Dasara cultural events, road schemes are expected to begin in a few days as tenders for 55 works will be opened on Friday.

A sum of Rs 1.63 crore would be spent on filling potholes, while Rs. 3 crore would be spent on asphalting roads. The remaining amount will be spent on beautification, according to the MCC.

The State government has sanctioned Rs. 5 crore as Dasara grant this year to the MCC.

Along with last year’s unused grant of Rs. 2.23 crore, work on 55 projects costing Rs. 7.23 crore would begin soon, according to Chandrashekar G. Betsurmath, Commissioner, MCC.

Review of progress

Mr. Betsurmath, accompanied by officials, engineers and the contractor who bagged the the Raja Marga and Town Hall renovation projects, inspected the progress of works being expedited to meet the Dasara deadline.

Speaking to presspersons, the commissioner said that the “much-delayed” Raja Marga project, which was going on at a snail’s pace, had been speeded up and works scheduled under it were expected to be completed soon.

The debris and construction materials dumped in the surroundings of Town Hall, a century-old building known for its impressive architecture, were being removed from the place and interior works, including fixing of chairs for spectators, were nearing completion, the commissioner said after inspecting the Town Hall.

He said, 350 chairs had been fixed and wall panelling work would be done within a few days.

The work on the exterior of the building would be taken up after Dasara, he added.

Additional labour force and machines, if necessary, would be pressed into service to complete the works at the earliest, he added.

To a question, the commissioner said that the 55 works included beautification of parks and painting of kerbstones in the city centres.

The work on asphalting a portion of the stretch between vegetable market on M.G. Road till Karanji Lake through Race Course has commenced. It’s a major link road to tourist spots, including Karanji Lake Nature Park, Mysore zoo and Chamundi Hills and Somanathapura.