The government has released a paltry Rs 1.31 crores for the repair of the Shiradi Ghat stretch of road which has remained unmotorable even after earlier repairs. District Minister Krishna Palemar has announced this at a press meet as if it was a great achievement. The repair of the National Highway on the Mangalore-Bangalore route has been underway since the past three to four years as if it is never ending! The amount spent by the government for the concretization of this 31 km of ghat road has exceeded Rs 50 crores, but of no avail reminding one of the statement “Operation Success, patient died!â€
In reality the Mangalore-Bangalore road has been notified to be a four-lane and the work is underway on the Bangalore-Hassan stretch. But there is no sign of four-laning the road from Hassan onwards, towards Mangalore.
Now what is hindering the government from first taking up the four-laning project instead of taking up the repair of the Shiradi Ghat stretch of road. The majority of the people who are using Ghat road , are people from the coastal belt and the Ghat road is of utmost importance to them. But we have neither the determination nor the will-power to benefit from the four-laning project sanctioned by the Union government. The Mangalore Legislator Yogish Bhat is the chairman of the State Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation while former minister and heavy weight Nagaraj Shetty is the Chairman of the Coastal Development Authority. But this Authority has not considered the four-laning of the Mangalore-Mysore and Mangalore-Bangalore stretch as a project of any great importance. Even the ministers in DK and Udupi have never considered this a priority area. The reason being that they enjoy free air travel on the Mangalore-Bangalore route !
The government has not given importance to any projects on infrastructure development. Just another instance is the 35 km long BC Road-Suratkal four-laning works. The project is still progressing at a snail’s pace. The Mysore-Mangalore four-laning too is progressing in a similar fashion. Had the project gained momentum, then it would have been completed at least upto Maani, Sullia by now.
Almost all the politicians of undivided Dakshina Kannada district, having links with the Parivar, frequently rub shoulders with the CM. Though the undivided DK has only two ministers in the state, there are several in the BJP who enjoy officials facilities. What are all these people doing ? Aren’t they aware of the road works that need to be taken up on an emergency basis ? Why should these leaders who have no will-power to live upto the aspirations of the people remain in their posts ? Don’t they at least have the responsibility of ensuring that the projects implemented are completed within a stipulated time frame ?
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