Daijiworld Media Network - Hassan (SP)
Hassan, Nov 5: Shiradi ghat stretch of national highway No. 75 will be closed for concreting work from December first week this year. This was stated by principal secretary in state public works department, Lakshminarayana. He was speaking after taking part in a meeting of contractors and officials of the department at Sakleshpur on Friday November 4 during his visit for verifying preparations made for concreting of this stretch of the highway.
"Already necessary preparations have been made for concreting of 13 km road between 250 and 253 km. Fifty percent of materials and most of the equipment have been pooled together already. DLC machine will arrive here on November 7," he explained. He added that PQC concreting machine will reach the spot on November 20.
He noted that 79 culverts on the road on which works will be conducted need to be repaired. "Out of them, 46 culverts have already been almost repaired. The remaining 33 have been planned to be taken up along with concreting of six km road. The contractors have been asked to complete all works in four months flat," he narrated.
Lakshminarayana stated that official announcement about closure of the highway will be made after holding discussions with forest minister, Ramanath Rai, and PWD minister, Mahadevappa.
About the proposed tunnel between Maranahalli and Gundia, he informed that the government plans to collect public opinion beforehand. "The survey work on this 23 km long tunnel project has been entrusted to Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and preliminary survey report has already been submitted to the government. Full survey report is proposed to be submitted by the end of December this year. The government will thereafter put together opinions from environmentalists and general public before taking a suitable decision," he explained.
He stated that the government is aware of the need to concrete Charmadi Ghat road between Moodigere and Dakshina Kannada and that this project will be approved soon.