by Richie Lasrado
Resident Editor
Daijiworld.com
Mangalore
with exclusive pics by Dayanand Kukkaje
June 29, 2006
Writing about it over and over leaves a bad taste in the mouth, no doubt.
If the roads around the district were bad enough, the condition of the state and national highways cutting across the undivided DK district at some spots certainly does not behove well for the 'highway' label.
The condition of the Bantwal-Mysore state highway from Mani right up to Madikeri has remained simply pathetic. Only recently patchwork has been done here and there.
The state of the national highway 48 near BC Road on railway overbridge until a few days ago was only to be seen to be believed. The dilapidated stretch of the national highway 17 at Bykampady has been a nightmare for motorists and pedestrians for many years now.
Politicians and ministers, as if waving magic wands, have been issuing ultimatums and deadlines to officials for restoring the roads to some decent level, without realizing that even for a patchwork job, tenders have to be called for and resources have to be marshalled.
For immediate purposes, the Nantur junction in the city makes an ideal case study. The Kanniyakumari-Panvel national highway 17 and Mangalore-Sholapur national highway 13 cross each other here. The traffic circle is lying at a depressed point. Passenger traffic from Kundapur and Udupi, traffic to and from Moodbidri, Karkala and onward to Kudremukh etc. besides hundreds of vehicles moving around the city pass or touch this point. The low position of the circle would perhaps not allow its expansion. Besides, there is a hillock and a high-rise close to it.
Talk has been going on about erecting a flyover at Nantur, again without realizing the area of land a flyover, with its dual carriageways, slip roads and approach roads, would occupy, and which is absent at the spot, unless many buildings are razed down.
As things stand, during rains the circle is water-logged, creating traffic jams and inconvenience. We feel pity for the traffic cops who have a tough job on hand for someone else's lapse.
It is very obvious that either the highway was built without providing channels for rain-water or artificial flooding is created because human factors like lack of planning in construction activity.
Whatever it is blamed on, the suffering continues, without anyone knowing what the solution is.
Our first five pictures show the state of affairs at the Nantur circle, while the rest depict the roads during rains elsewhere in the city.
Also read: