Though the bus-stand was damaged in last August, the authorities, including the City Municipal Council (CMC) of Madikeri had delayed the construction of the retaining wall to prevent further sliding of the hillock. It was only last month work had begun to build the retaining wall. The delay is proving costly because there are chances of landslips if the rain intensifies in the coming weeks.
The CMC and the government have decided to build a tourist spot in the area to be named as ‘Madikeri Square’.
Meanwhile, cracks have developed on Madikeri-Mangaluru Road at Katakeri near Madikeri. The authorities had carried out ‘patch work’ repair on the highway damaged during last year’s landslides. Instead of repairing the roads by building retaining walls and other civil works, the government agencies had placed sandbags to prop up the roads.
Last year, landslides had occurred on 25 locations on Sampaje Ghat. Stretches of roads were washed away due to flash floods on four locations including Jodupala, Madenadu and Monnangeri.
The authorities had carried out temporary repairs to facilitate movement of vehicles, instead of building new road.
There is fear among residents that once the rains intensify, there could be further damages to the road infrastructure which has been rendered weak by last year’s floods in Kodagu.