Keonjhar: While the state Tourism department is spending a whopping Rs 4.26 crore for the development and beautification of famous Sanaghagara waterfall in Keonjhar district, locals have raised questions over the quality of the ongoing works. They accused the officials of not monitoring the works of the contractor.
Irate locals claimed that the beautification work is substandard as no government engineer is supervising the workers at the site. They demanded immediate replacement of the workers.
As per the project plan, parking slots, toilets, compound wall, entry gate, pavements, solid waste management system, cafeteria, photography zone, boating ghat, information signage, drinking water stand post and a watchtower would be built with the sanctioned funds. The project also includes development and beautification of adjacent areas of the waterfall.
However, it was observed that the paver blocks used to make pavements have not been placed with appropriate mixture of concrete. Moreover, the quality of the paver blocks has not been tested. Worse, the paver blocks are being placed without levelling the surface of the under-construction road, many locals rued.
In addition, the existing dilapidated entry gate is being renovated instead of constructing a new one. Similarly, concrete guard wall of National Highway-49 is being fenced with wires, instead of proposed compound wall.
On the other hand, environmentalists have raised concerns over felling of trees for the development works.
Rubbishing the allegations, assistant engineer and project in-charge Sridhar Mahala said, “The development and beautification works are going on properly. Quality monitoring and supervision of every work is being done through WhatsApp. No question of irregularity arises at all.”
It is pertinent to mention here that the state government has decided to transform the Sanaghagara waterfall into a world-class tourist site.
