Keonjhar: While the State Tourism department is spending a whopping Rs 4.26 crore for the development and beautification of the famous Sanaghagara Waterfall in Keonjhar district, locals alleged the ongoing works to be of low-quality.
Irate locals claimed that the beautification work of low-quality as no government engineer is supervising the workers on the site. They demanded the immediate replacement of the workers.
As per the project plan, the fund is for the construction of vehicle parking slots, toilets for visitors, compound wall, entry gate, pavements, solid waste management project, cafeteria, photography zone, boating ghat, information signages, drinking water stand post and watchtower, including development and beautification of adjacent areas.
It was seen that the paver blocks used to make pavement have not been placed with appropriate mixture of concrete and cement. Moreover, the quality of the paver blocks has not been tested. Worse, the paver blocks are being placed without smoothening the surface of the under-construction road, many locals informed.
In addition, existing dilapidated entry gate is being renovated instead of constructing a new one. Similarly, concrete guard wall of NH-49 is being fenced with wires, in lieu of proposed compound wall.
On the other hand, environmentalists have expressed deep concern as several trees are being felled for the development works.
When contacted, assistant engineer and the 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 efforts are on to make over the Sanaghagara Waterfall into a world-class tourist site in Odisha.
PNN