M'lore: Series of Dharnas against NH Work Begin - Agitators to Court Arrest

The Hindu
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
for Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

• Token ‘rasta roko’ staged at Surathkal for 10 minutes
• Dharnas to be staged at five places over the next five days
• Agitators plan to court arrest at Bykampady on Wednesday

Mangalore, May 28: The Dakshina Kannada Rashtriya Heddari Ulisi Horatta Samiti will intensify its agitation against the tardy four-laning work on the national highway 17 between Surathkal and B.C. Road.

Members of the samiti, who staged a dharna at Surathkal on Tuesday, propose to stage dharnas at five places over the next five days. The activists plan to court arrest at Bykampady, venue of the next agitation on Wednesday.

The agitators, led by honorary president of the samiti Harikrishna Punaroor, president Dinesh Hegde Ulepady, and secretary Subashchandra Shetty, staged a token 10-minute “rasta roko” at Surathkal. They blocked the important junction there along the national highway where it branches out into two directions, one towards MRPL and another towards Udupi. Shopkeepers in the vicinity expressed solidarity with the samiti by pulling down the shutters for one hour from 10 a.m.

Mr. Punaroor said the people of the area had been suffering for the past two-and-a-half years on account of the dust emanating from the four-laning work. Their plea to National Highways Authority of India, which is executing the work through its contractor Ircon International Ltd, to complete the work quickly, had not yielded any results. There was no response for agitations in the past either, he said.

Mr. Dinesh blamed the apathy of officials for the plight of the people. He said, Deputy Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao was, instead of taking any action, content with forwarding the memoranda submitted by the samiti to the NHAI. The contractors had not created service roads before taking up the four-laning of the 37.5-km stretch, he said.

Mr. Shetty urged the authorities not to permit IRCON to dig up the existing road between Surathkal and Kottara Chowki, especially because monsoon season was round the corner.

The contractor should immediately asphalt the old road to four-inch thickness without resorting to patch work. They should strengthen the rest of the patches on the unfinished stretches, he said.

He demanded that a committee, headed by Deputy Commissioner and comprising officials from NHAI, IRCON and five prominent people, be set up immediately to review the progress of work on a fortnightly basis.

The vehicle movement along NH 17 was affected during the agitation.

The office-bearers had, in a press conference, threatened to block vehicles till the Deputy Commissioner and project director of NHAI Gawasane arrived at the spot and heard their grievances. But the two officials did not turn up.