BELAGAVI: PWD officials in Raibag town found themselves at the receiving end on Tuesday for “doing a shoddy job of road works”. Protesting against what they said was a failure to develop the main road in Raibag town that leads to Ankali, a group of Kannada activists locked the PWD office and staged a dharna on its premises.
Though they took up road widening and development works a good three years ago, the officials have not completed them. In the course of the last three years, the condition of the road has only worsened, which is posing a lot of inconvenience to commuters.
Locals joined the activists in a rally around the town protesting against “PWD’s callousness, and questioned the authorities for delaying the work”. Despite several protests and appeals by people and organisations in Raibag, the authorities are unwilling to complete the works, the protesters rued. In the name of development, several parts of the stretch have been dug up creating difficulties for people, especially in the last few months, complained residents.
Officials who were locked up in their workplace assured the protesters in writing that they would complete the work by Saturday. Only then did the protesters withdrew their agitation.