Karwar: IRB Infrastructure Developers, which has taken up the fourlaning of NH-66 between Kundapur and Karwar, has violated rules in executing the work, according to Centre for Policy Research (CPR) which has submitted a report to the Union government.
To address traffic woes and bring down the number of accidents on the busy National Highway 66 (Mangaluru-Mumbai road), the Union government had decided to upgrade the two-lane road into four lanes. The tender for the 187 km stretch (from Kundapur in Udupi district to Majali near Karwar) was given to the company, which started work in 2013.
During ongoing road widening work in the last 5-6 years, hundreds of people lost their lives in road accidents.The landslide at Tandrakuli village near Kumta had killed three children of a family, besides causing injuries to many people and damage to properties.
After such incidents, villages in all five coastal taluks staged protests accusing the company of developing the road in an unscientific manner. It is alleged that the IRB has violated about 80 per cent of the rules and regulations while developing the road in the last five years.
The CPR, which had taken up the research from June 2016 to August 2018, submitted its report to the Union government. It stated that the company has followed just six out of 31 rules of the Environment department, one out of 29 rules of the Forest department and 13 out of 37 rules of the Pollution Control Board.
To blast rocks in the hilly areas, the company should have taken permission from the Forest department. But no permission was obtained. The company used water from rivers for the construction work, but it had not taken permission from the Water Resources department, the report said.
As per the report, conditions of Section 10 of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, were violated by both the ministry and the company. As per rules, for better implementation of environmental regulations and clearance conditions, the company should submit monitoring reports regularly and it should be strictly evaluated by the government, the report said.