Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (TP)
Udupi, July 7: Due to incessant rains from the last few days, a portion of Santhekatte underpass construction area caved in on Wednesday night as feared earlier. Locals say this was expected due to the continuous heavy vehicular movement and the heavy downpour.
As one of Karnataka’s most used National Highways for commercial purposes,the NH 66 is largely used by vehicles such as goods vehicle, trucks and also school busesto to carry heavy loads. As Santhekatte junction is one of the prominent and busy junctions along the Udupi-Kundapura highway it seemed difficult to ensure smooth movement of pedestrian and vehicular traffic necessitating the underpass construction and as was proposed by the NH authorities.
Heavy traffic was witnessed after construction of the underpass began putting a considerable amount of pressure on the road. No precautionary measures were taken by the authorities and thus it resulted in a landslide.
Udupi is experiencing heavy rainfall for the past few days and this has softened the soil in this area. As there is no retaining wall and proper way for the water to flow, it has resulted in a collapse.
On July 4, District Commissioner, Kurma Rao along with SP Akshay Hackay Machinder and NHAI authorities had visited the area and instructed NHAI authorities to take precautionary measures and to have more safety measures for the road users.
Members of the public requested the authorities in the meet to ensure that safety measures are taken. The tarpaulin that was installed was frequently getting blown away due to strong winds that disturbed the travellers and was accompanied by heavy rainfall thereby causing a landslide.
If there is continuous movement of vehicles, there is likely to be more danger to the construction area and so the officials have planned to divert the vehicular traffic.
The construction work began in January, the preliminary work was to be completed by end of May. The work got delayed as the exacavation work hit a roadblock.
Taking into consideration concerning the National Highway, MP Shobha Karandlaje instructed the authorities to stop the work and resume the same from September. The authorities had protected the NH and covered it with tarpaulin and bags filled with sand. Due to the heavy downpour and winds the tarpaulin got displaced and caused landslide in the area.
There is a need for quick action by the authorities to prevent more landslides at the construction area. As it is a busy junction, students commute in this area which poses a risk for them as they have to wait for the buses on the edge of the road.