Udupi: Home Minister Acharya Inaugurates Hanging Bridge
Pics: Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Jun 28: State home minister, Dr V S Acharya, who also happens to be the in-charge minister for the district, inaugurated the newly built hanging bridge under Kukkehally gram panchayat on Saturday June 26. The bridge connects Kambalamajalu in Kukkehally to Petri village. The bridge has been built under the integrated tribal development programme of the government, at an approximate cost of Rs 20 lac.

In his address delivered after inaugurating the bridge, Acharya said that the government has an ambitious plan of erecting about 100 hanging bridges across all the rivers, rivulets, streams etc., flowing in the district in course of time, to provide connectivity to all the citizens. He informed that 11 such bridges have already been built in Chikmagalur district in the recent past. “As and when new proposals come, and after considering their genuine requirement, more such bridges will be provided by using funds from the state and central governments,” he promised.

V S Acharya claimed that his district was ahead of Dakshina Kannada district in terms of development. He urged the newly elected gram panchayat members from the district to conscientiously work for the welfare of their people, and utilize the funds provided to them judiciously by ensuring that there is no scope of any form of corruption.

The hanging bridge, measuring 72 metres, has been built by veteran hanging bridge engineer, Girish Bharadhwaj. This is the third such bridge in the district.

Local M P, D V Sadanand Gowda, MLA, Raghupati Bhat, deputy commissioner, Hemalata, zilla panchayat (ZP) president, Gladys D’Almeida, chairman of ZP standing committee, Gerald Fernandes, ZP chief executive officer, Rajashekhar, tribal department coordinating officer, Urmila, Arun Kumar of Nirmiti Kendra, Cherkady gram panchayat president, Kamalaksha Hebbar, ZP member, B N Shankar Poojary etc., were present.

Kaup MLA, Lalaji R Mendon, presided. Sudhakar Nayak delivered the welcome address.