BERHAMPUR: Irked over inordinate delay in the completion of the 41-km- Berhampur - Taptapani road in Ganjam, some locals agitated in front of the chief engineer of the project at Digapahandi. The Rs 82-crore project was undertaken in November 2008 as part of the World Bank funded Orissa State Road Project (OSRP) and was scheduled to be completed in November 2010. Only 10 per cent of the work has been done till now. People are suffering a lot as work is going on at a snail's pace, president of the Khemundi Bar Association Hruday Ranjan Mekap and several others, who took part in the agitation, told the chief engineer. The road project is a significant one as tourists travel to Taptapani which is famous for a hot-spring, via Berhampur. Padmanavpur, a weavers' village, which is being developed as a rural tourist destination, is also on the road.
Road engineers said the hold up was caused by delay in land acquisition for the project. Land acquisition was completed in 28 out of 31 villages, they informed. "Since land acquisition is yet to be completed, we have extended the deadline for the project to October 2012, said the executive engineer of the project. M R Mishra. Revenue minister S N Patro, while conducting a review on the progress of the project two months ago, had directed officials to expedite the land acquisition process and complete the work as soon as possible. He also directed departments of health, telephone and Southco to shift their pipelines, electric and telephone poles to ensure speedy completion of the work.
Source: Times of India
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