Residents of Mysuru and tourists may soon be spared of the deplorable sight of the famed Rangacharlu Memorial Town Hall becoming a dumping ground for construction debris and building material.
After silently watching the mounds of construction debris grow bigger amid the dumped building material and parking of broken down construction vehicles on the premises of the Town Hall opposite the Mysuru palace for the last two to three years now, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) appears to have finally woken up to the issue that had become an eyesore not only to the residents of the city, but also to tourists.
MCC Commissioner C.G. Betsurmath, who visited the Town Hall with civic officials on Saturday, cracked the whip against not only the slow progress of work on the construction of the multi-storied building for parking of vehicles and an open air auditorium that had begun in 2011, but also the deplorable condition of the Town Hall premises.
The contractor, who had been entrusted with the work on construction of the Raja Marga as well as the multi-storied building on the Town Hall premises had been using the open space on the Town Hall premises for dumping the debris, building sheds for housing construction labourers, storing construction material and parking broken down construction vehicles, much to the chagrin of the residents of the city. Though the pitiable condition of the heritage site had angered several officials and public representatives, no action had been taken. Following Mr. Betsurmath’s visit, Abhaya, the MCC’s Rapid Action team, was deployed to drain out the rainwater that had gathered in the basement of the newly built multi-storied structure for parking vehicles. MCC officials said they had deployed its men to clear the premises as it was the reputation of the civic body that was at stake. “The entire premises will be cleared in two to four days’ time”, said M.J. Ravi Kumar, councillor representing the ward.
Mr. Betsurmath told The Hindu that he had set a deadline of August 15 for the contractor to complete the pending works on the parking lot. “Though the structure is ready, it requires plastering and other finishing work. It should be ready before Dasara festivities”, he added.
MCC’s Rapid Action team drained out rainwater that had collected in the basement of the new building
