Silvester D’Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (EP)
Kundapur, Dec 2: The long-pending demand of residents in Padukone and surrounding villages moved closer to reality on Tuesday December 2, as district incharge minister Vinay Kumar Sorake laid the foundation stone for the bridge linking Padukone to Maravante across the Sowparnika river.
The foundation was laid near Maharaja Swamy Temple in Maravante. The bridge would be constructed as a joint project of the department of public works and ports and inland water transport. The bridge has been a major demand of the people of the area for the last sixty years, as they are forced to cross the river in country boats to get to the mainland. It will be constructed at a cost of Rs 4.95 crore.
"Padukone is being linked through a bridge to Maravante. This will not only boost development work in the two villages, but also the tourism potential of Maravante which has been gifted with a unique natural beauty. For that, we need to also undertake works that would attract more tourists to Maravante," said Vinay Kumar Sorake.
"When Oscar Fernandes was the union transport minister, he had sanctioned Rs 1,600 crore for the development of roads in Karnataka within a short span of time. Work on four-laning the road is also in progress in the area. While the national highway is getting upgraded to four lanes, the work on bridge joining the two villages is also being undertaken," he said.
"Byndoor, labelled as a backward area, is becoming developed due to the persistant efforts of Byndoor area MLA Gopala Poojary. The foundation stone for Kannada Kudru bridge has already been laid. Now that the foundation stone for this bridge also is laid, let the work go on without hindrance and get completed soon," he added.
PWD executive engineer Chandrashekar gave technical details of the bridge. Heriya Kanchan, Laxmi Poojary, Pandu Poojary, Varaha Temple trustee Ramachandra Hebbar, Ganapa Koodlumakki, Mahabala Poojary Mullimane and Krishna Poojary Moodayinamane who had donated their land for the bridge and Rajesh Karantha and bridge contractor Philip D’Costaof St Anthony Constructions were felicitated on the occasion.
Sylvester Almeida Padukone delivered the keynote address. Maravante village panchayat member S Janardhan Maravante welcomed. Taluk panchayat member Sathish M Nayak Nada proposed the vote of thanks. Journalist Rajesh K C compered the programme.
MLA K Gopala Poojary presided over the programme. Zilla panchayat member K Babu Shetty, taluk panchayat president Bhaskar Billava, taluk panchayat member Shanker Shetty Bellady, Laxmi Mendon, S Raju Poojary, H Manjayya Shetty, Manju Billava, Ramesh Ganiga Kollur, zilla panchayat member Ananth Movadi, Maravante village panchayat president K A Suguna, Nada village panchayat president Praveena Shetty Kadke, Marvanthe Varaha Swamy temple trustee Ramachandra Hebbar, Padukone church parish priest Joseph Machado, Mumbai businessman Suresh S Poojary Padukone, Suresh D Padukone, Pandu Poojary Pune, N T Poojary, Bangalore businessman Vijayakrishna Padukone and former zilla panchayat vice-president Raju Devadiga among others were present.
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