Mysuru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah crisscrossed the city in a Volvo bus, covering nearly 65 km in three-and-a-half hours, in his maiden tour on Wednesday. Sporting a navy blue cap, he went up and down, inspecting every inch of 16 major projects taken up in the city.
Asked about the intention behind the tour, Mr Siddaramaiah told Deccan Chronicle, “I wanted to check how the funds, granted over the last two years, have been utilised in the city. Through this tour, I also wanted to speed up the projects.”
Later at a press conference, he said, “We have granted over Rs 200 crore to Mysuru in the last two budgets. The emphasis was on basic infrastructure for this Heritage City. With the Rs 100 crore funds, 119 projects have been taken up and 53 projects completed. As many as 47 projects are at different stages of completion. Seventeen projects for the development of heritage Infrastructure will be taken up with an allocation of Rs 100 crore. PWD has initiated five projects, while the MUDA three. I have fixed a deadline for this year’s Dasara-related works and I will again take up one more city round before the festivities to check if the deadlines are met,” he said.
Mr Siddaramaiah began the inspection at 10 am and concluded it around 1.30 pm. He started with the Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Statue pavilion at Hardinge Circle, where a statue of the former Maharaja is being put up, on the same lines as Krishna Raja Wadiyar and Chamaraja Wadiyar circles in the heart of the city. He inspected the multi-storeyed parking complex near the Town Hall, the renovation works at the Town Hall and the work on the Ambedkar statue near the complex. The works on Rajpath, which were to be completed three years ago, too were checked by the chief minister. He instructed the officials to complete all the works by Dasara.
He also visited Devaraja Market, where a restoration project is going on, and Boti Bazaar, which is the mutton market. Several vegetable and fruit vendors welcomed the chief minister with garlands.
They told him that the quality of works was not up to the mark. He later went on Irwin Road, which is being widened from the City Railway Station to the Rural Bus Stand. He inspected the works at Ambedkar Bhavan on Narayanshastry road.
Maharani’s Science College and Jagjeevan Ram Bhavan at Paduvarahalli, and Valmiki Bhavan at Vijaynagar 1st stage were the other spots he visited. He then inspected the work on a 100-bed Trauma Care Centre and 350-bed Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology on KRS Road, which is coming up on KRS road.
