Silvester D’Souza

Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Jul 28: Two dilapidated bridges located on the road leading to Kody from Vinayaka here have been removed. In their place, a new bridge is under construction. The new bridge should have been completed before the onset of monsoon. As the work remained unfinished, the contractors had laid a temporary road by placing concrete pipes. The road was washed away due to heavy rain received on July 21. Now, Kody cannot be reached from this road.

As a result, the people going to Kody have to take the road via Koteshwar or from Chikkensal Road Kundapur. They now have to take a seven to eight km detour to reach there.

As the two bridges providing communication between Kundapur and Kody had been utterly damaged. With the efforts of MLA Halady Srinivas Shetty, a grant of two crore rupees had been sanctioned. The work was given on contract and slab has been laid for one of the bridges. However, the first bridge on Vinayaka road is still in the stage of building pillars. Three more pillars are yet to be built. The people had demanded to complete at least the slab work before the monsoon but as the work is stranded at the pillar stage, the concerned had provided a temporary road by laying huge concrete pipes and using mud. The farmers had said long back that this is unscientific. If the flowing water is blocked, agricultural fields get inundated. Therefore the locals had asked the concerned to work faster and complete the work.

Now this temporary contact road has been washed away. When the tide is low, the people slowly get into the river and cross it. However, this is dangerous as even a little slip of the feet can prove disastrous. As the area is full of slush, it is necessary to be very careful.

The concerned say that they will be starting work again on the bridge by August 15 and complete it as soon as possible. Manju Billawa, a local leader, says that a two crore rupees grant has been sanctioned for the two bridges here. He said that the concerned have been pressurized to start work faster. He said that they have assured to complete the work by September end.