Karnataka - Mangalore   

Damaged road to be repaired

— PHOTO: GOVIND D. BELGAUMKAR

POOR STATE: The road in front of the Infosys campus in Mudipu in Mangalore.

MANGALORE: A short stretch between Phajir village and Mudipu resembles a mud road.

While residents of the village think that a leaking water pipeline in the vicinity may have caused the damage, B.S. Balakrishna, Superintending Engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) says that it is man-made.

Mr. Balakrishna told presspersons here on Wednesday that rainwater from the nearby Infosys campus flowed on to the road.

There was no point in repairing the road till the flow of water from the campus was contained. Development activities on the premises of the neighbouring Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) were also to be blamed for it, he said.

Mr. Balakrishna told The Hindu on Thursday that Infosys had raised the height of the land abutting the road for parking vehicles. The company had not left any gap between the PWD road and the recently laid road on its own premises. As a result, the camber of the road, which facilitated free flow of water from the centre to the sides, had been affected. Rainwater had started collecting at the centre of the road. A crater had been created between the road and the Infosys property, he said.

Mr. Balakrishna said he had arranged to remove the elevation with earthmovers but could not complete the task following a discussion with the company, which had sought three days’ time to come up with a plan to stop the flow of water. He said he had asked the company to coordinate with the PWD before taking any action.

Infosys spokesperson Dheeeraj Hejmadi said the company had taken steps to prevent water from flowing outside its premises and had diverted it to join the drainage system. It had not modified the geography of the area.

The company would make the road safe for everyone, he said.

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