Mangalore: Lethargic Attitude in Road Repair Causes Locals Untold Misery
By Melka Miyar
For Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (CN)
Pics: Prajwal Ukkuda
Mangalore, Jul 6: Heavy rains spell doom for the roads in coastal Karnataka. Neither city roads, nor rural roads, can escape the wrath of the monsoons. Also, during this time, all road work activity comes to a standstill.
The road between Meramajal and Kuttikala Abbettu, about 15 kilometres from the city is one such problematic stretch. In fact, one might even wonder whether a road even exists here. Except for some private vehicles and rickshaws, all other vehicles have stopped plying on this road because it is a challenging task for them to traverse via this route.
A three kilometre stretch of this road has been totally damaged. The situation is worst near the the Holy Family church. As a school is also located in this area, the students find it tough to cross the road here it is totally unfit for even walking.
The foundation stone for the upgradation of the Meramajal-Kuttikala Abbettu road was laid last September by rural development minister C M Udasi. The work was to completed under the aegis of the Prime Minister’s gram sadak scheme. But the undue delay is worrying the locals who attribute the poor condition of the road to this reason.
They claim that the asphalt was removed two months ago though the contractors were aware that the rains would hit in a few weeks time. But still they went ahead and converted the tar road into a mud road.
Earlier, buses plied this road every half an hour but now they are all absent from this road. Only one private bus travels this road every morning and evening. Most rickshaw drivers are not willing to travel on this road either. This has made life difficult for residents of the area and they are still awaiting a solution to their problems which seems to move out of their grasp with each passing day.