Agitated locals stop work on gas pipeline

Agitated locals stop work on gas pipeline

Mangalore Today News Network

mangaluru; Residents stalled the work on a gas pipeline at Annalike on the Bantwal-Moodbidri stretch on Monday, alleging that the work was damaging the road.

The pipeline work from Mangaluru to Shollapura was in progress at Annalike. The residents said that in the name of pipeline work, the contractor had been engaging in digging the public road. This has damaged the water pipeline, telephone line and the cables. The road has developed potholes and this is causing a lot of inconvenience to the vehicle users and public. The contractor has started the work in a hurry on Sunday night.

The Taluk Panchayat member Vasanth Kumar Annalike objected to taking up the work and had asked the concerned authorities not to start the work till they got an NOC from the departments concerned as well as the gram panchayat.  When the contractor came to work the next morning, however, the enraged residents stopped the work.

When the protesters contacted the PWD engineer Umesh Bhat, he told them that the contractor had paid Rs six lakh to lay the pipeline. The residents, however, insist that they would not allow the commencement of the work till the damaged road was repaired.  The protest was withdrawn following an assurance from the PWD and the Zilla Panchayat engineering division officials that the road would be widened and also asphalted.