Gadkari to lay foundation stone for many highway works

As National Highway infrastructure in coastal Karnataka continues to stay terrible despite BJP’s claim of having double engine governments for development in Karnataka, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will be in Mangaluru on Monday to lay the foundation stone for many highway works, comprising the ones on National Highway 75, for which he had laid the foundation stone in March 2016. Gadkari, during his visit to Mangaluru in March 2016, had laid the foundation stone for the four-lane widening of NH 75 between Hassan and B.C. Road in two packages, Hassan-Maranahalli and Addahole-B.C. Road. With the contractor chosen for Hassan-Maranahalli stretch going insolvent, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) awarded the work to the sub-contractor two years back. The stretch still remains terrible. The contractor selected for the Addahole-B.C. Road stretch walked out of the agreement after NHAI decided to separate Addahole-Periyashanthi (Dharmasthala) Cross (15 km) stretch following the requirement to incorporate extensive forest mitigation works. New contractors are in place to implement four-lane work on Addahole-Periyashanthi-B.C road stretches. Members of NH 75 Travellers WhatsApp group, who in 2019 had rolled out ‘Save NH 75’, a Twitter campaign to decry the continued pathetic state of NH-75 and wake up officials, wondered about the need for Gadkari’s visit and the programme itself. They cannot understand the intent of the programme when the National Highway network in coastal Karnataka and those connecting the coast with other parts of the State continue to remain in pathetic condition. Image Source Also read: More greenfield highways to be built as part of NH development