Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal
Bantwal, Sep 9: The testing machine, under the control of the state government, has finally arrived in Polali to assess the strength of the Addur bridge. After heavy vehicles were banned from using the weakened bridge, Dakshina Kannada district commissioner Mullai Muhilan had previously announced that the machine would be brought from Bengaluru to evaluate the bridge's capacity.
He had mentioned that further decisions would be made once the engineers submitted their report on the bridge's strength. Until then, the ban on heavy vehicles crossing the bridge would remain in place, with police check-posts set up at both ends for monitoring. However, this has caused inconvenience for students and the general public traveling to Mangaluru and other areas, leading to multiple appeals to the district commissioner and local representatives.
Despite a month passing since the restriction, the authorities had not provided clear information or brought the machine for testing, causing frustration among locals. Now, with the machine finally in place, the testing has begun.
Once the engineers submit their report, a clearer picture will emerge, and the authorities will decide on further action. When the machine arrived, members of the Addur Bridge Protest Committee held discussions with the officials, highlighting the difficulties faced by the public. They requested a swift resolution to the problem and stated that the protest committee would plan future actions based on the report's findings.
During this time, Abubakar Ammunje, Chandrashekhar Shetty, Umesh Acharya, advocate Chandrashekhar Rao, Jay Ramakrishna Polali, Karthik Ballal, Chandrashekhar Bhandary, and others were present.