Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (EP)

Mangaluru, Mar 31: Congress while welcoming new projects and assurances to Karnataka by union minister of transport Nitin Gadgari said that the contribution and projects passed during the last UPA government cannot be forgotten.

“While BJP leaders say in public speeches that there should be no politics in development, they should have mentioned the projects of former union minister of land transport Oscar Fernandes for the state and coastal districts in particular”, said AICC member P V Mohan in press release on Wednesday March 30.

“Oscar Fernandes who was the Rajya Sabha member and later the union minister had approved fourteen national highways and additional two and half thousand long national highways. It is as if that they have come to eat what we have cooked in time,” said Mohan.

“Oscar had approved the Bantwal–Hassan national highways in time and created a solution to decade long problems on Shiradi ghats faced by Bengaluru- Mangaluru travellers. The concrete work of the highway was decided after discussions with PWD minister Dr C H Mahadevappa. He had got the funds approved from the union transport ministry so that high quality concrete work was conducted,” he said.

“The tunnel project for Bengaluru-Mangaluru highway proposed by Japan International Cooperation Agency was approved during UPA government. The state government was asked to prepare detailed DPR when Oscar Fernandes was the minister. State PWD minister Dr Mahadevappa had said that he will be submitting the DPR in June, 2016 and the interest of Gadgari to approve the project is welcome”.

“Let the projects proposed by MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and the state government such as Moodbidri-Karkala, Bantwal-Kaikamba-Kateel-Mulky and Melkar-Mudipu be upgraded. 25 meters land was set aside on either sides of the road at Melkar-Mudipu-Thokkottu when U S Mallya was the Congress MP and there will be no problems of land for construction of four lane road,” he added.