Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Nov 24: A meeting on the issue of making the damaged city and rural roads in Dakshina Kannada district motorable again, was held in the office of the auditorium of the district deputy commissioner’s office here on Tuesday November 23. It was presided over by Coastal Development Authority chairman, B Nagaraj Shetty.

In the past, Shetty had set November 10 as deadline for filling the potholes in all the roads in the district. At the meeting held on Tuesday, he set a fresh deadline of December 10 for making national highways 13, 48 and 234 motorable. He asked the officials not to take shelter under the pretext that they do not have any grants with them to repair the roads.

Shetty said that 36.9 kms of of national highway 13 passes through the district, and that 28 kms of this stretch had been already repaired. He noted that a sum of Rs 61 lac meant for general expenditure has not been spent. Telling the officials that the only immediate agenda before him in the capacity of the chairman of the above authority was to make the roads in the district fit for movement of vehicles, he instructed them to attend to this requirement in all seriousness.

The officials said that out of 74.8 kms stretch of national highway 48 in the district, holes have been closed in stretches measuring 54.8 kms. They promised to repair the balance stretch of the road from Amai to B C Road and near Shiradi in three weeks.  Corporation officials said that out of 120 roads within their jurisdiction, 50 roads have been chosen for repairs on priority. The zilla panchayat engineer informed that repair works on 52 roads with a length of 645.8 kms have been begun.

District deputy commissioner, Subodh Yadav, PWD, city corporation, National Highways Authority of India, and zilla panchayat officials attended the meeting.