A Rs 773 crore proposal is being sent to the government to develop the Fisheries Road between Thalapady and Karwar which will run parallel to the NH-17.
Informing the same in the district review meet convened to assess and review the developmental works in the district, at ZP Auditorium here on Saturday, Executive Engineer (Ports and Fisheries division, Udupi) Gopal Naik said that out of the Rs 773 crore proposal, Rs 500 crore has been estimated for development of roads in Dakshina Kannada (61 kms from Thalapady to Udupi border) and Udupi district (196 kms) and Rs 273 crore has been estimated for development of roads in Uttara Kannada district (140 kms). The proposed roads include Zilla Panchayat and other roads as well.

5 projects
In his introductory remarks, District-in-Charge Secretary Bharatlal Meena said that the district has a lot of potential for development, but there is a need to develop the infrastructure.
He identified five main routes to be developed. They included: NH-17 by-pass road, that is, Udupi - Karkala - Belthangady - Dharmasthala to join NH-48 - Uppinangady - Kadaba - Panja - Sullia; Surathkal - MRPL - Bajpe  - Airport - Polali - B C Road - Konaje - to join NH-17; Airport Road to Karkala - Udupi Road; Mangalore - Udupi - Karwar Road; ZP roads connecting tourist destinations in the district. These roads will be developed to ease traffic on the National Highway and at the same time to develop the small towns’ infrastructure. For example, development of a market or shopping complex in small towns like Surathkal or Mulki will generate income there, Mr Meena added.

Minister’s directive to NH
Stating that the vehicular movement has come down after the goods train service began on Mangalore - Hassan route, Mr Shetty sought to know from National Highway Executive Engineer B S Balakrishna as to why the roads were still in a pathetic condition. “Every year, the roads are damaged during the monsoon. However, this year, the roads are damaged even before the monsoon,” Mr Shetty said and directed the authority to make the roads at least motorable.

Vehicle ban?
To ease traffic on Pumpwell - B C Road stretch, District-in-Charge Minister B Nagaraj Shetty suggested that heavy vehicles should be banned in the said stretch. Instead, they can ply via Thokkuttu and Konaje to join near B C Road. However, a decision to this effect is yet to be taken.

Rs 1.2 cr loss to KSRTC
As the Shiradi Ghat road is in pathetic condition, the KSRTC has diverted its Bangalore bound Volvo buses to ply via Mysore. As a result, the Corporation is incurring a loss of Rs 2,000 per trip.
 “Unless the road is repaired, the KSRTC will not run Volvo buses on the Ghat section,” the KSRTC official said and added that the Corporation incurred a loss of Rs 1.20 crore in 2005-06.

Rs 56 cr for vented dam!
MCC Executive Engineer’s reply to a query on the cost of the vented dam probably surprised everyone in the meeting.
According to him the revised estimate for the vented dam was Rs 56 crore. Interestingly, none in the meet including the minister was aware of this revised estimate as until recently the cost was estimated at Rs 40 crore and the State government had reserved Rs 40 crore for the purpose in the budget.
When MLA Yogish Bhat sought to know who entrusted the work to the agency (Ircon), the Executive Engineer remained mum.
At this juncture, Mr Shetty suggested that a meeting of private parties including MRPL, AMR and Bobba project would be convened to discuss the issue as to what will be the approximate budget of the vented dam. “The private parties are ready to construct a similar dam at a cost of Rs 25 crore,” MSEZ COO A G Pai noted.

4 sub-stations
Mescom MD S Sumanth said that four sub-stations are coming up in Mangalore at Bejai, Alike, Attavar and Kadri. “They are under various stages of implementaton,” he told the meet.
On the other hand, 10 sub-stations being set up by the KPTCL in the district. They are located at Salethur, Jeppu, Mulki, Karaya, Mada, Siddakatte and Sullia among other places, the KPTCL official informed.

Rs 50 lakh for sea erosion
The Minister informed the meet that a sum of Rs 50 lakh (Rs 25 lakh each for DK and Udupi) has been set aside from Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) to meet any emergency requirement in the districts.
Referring to a newspaper report, the Minister asked Port EE whether there was any report of sea erosion in any part of the districts. As the EE replied in the negetive, the Minister asked the EE to go by walk from Thalapady to Kundapur to check any problems. “Don’t wait for the sea erosion to take place. Take action before something happens,” he said.

Bi-cycles
DDPI Shankarappa informed the meet that as many as 5,658 bi-cycles have been distributed to the girls while as many as 2,765 bi-cycles have been distributed to the boys in the district.

Rs 10 cr for dredging
Mr Nagaraj Shetty said that a sum of Rs 10 crore has been set aside for dredging work (Rs 5 lakh each for Mangalore and Malpe). “Identify the places where dredging has to be undertaken,” Mr Shetty told Port Officer Mohan Kudri. The Minister also sought to know the progress on the study entrusted by him on less number of fish catch in this season.

BPL cards
A total of 1,49,860 BPL cards have been distributed and another 16,757 are yet to be distributed which takes the total to 1,66,587, an official of Food and Civil Supplies Department said.

5 trauma care centres
As many as 5 trauma care centres are coming up in the district at Vittla, Mulki, Belthangady, Vamadapadav and Sullia, DHO Dr Jagannath informed the meet.
When the Minister learnt that the trauma care centres were sanctioned on October 18, 2006, Mr Shetty sought to know why the project was delayed for which the District Health Officer blamed the construction workers.

Ration card and LPG connection
MLA Yogish Bhat sought to know why only Dakshina Kannada has implemented the rule that LPG will be provided only to those who produce ration cards.
In his reply, Deputy Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao said that the demand was made by the LPG distributors.

Rs 93 cr waived
As per the government directive, the co-operative department has waived a sum of Rs 93.24 crore. It includes Rs 24.72 crore (from 15,315 persons who had availed a sum of Rs 25,000 or less), Rs 62.32 crore (from 24,930 persons who had availed more than Rs 25,000 loan) and Rs 6.20 crore (the interest component of those who had taken Rs 25,000 and more).
However, the district has received only a sum of Rs 17 crore and the remaining Rs 86.20 crore is yet to be received from the government, he informed.
Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer A M Kunjappa, Zilla Panchayat President Sushma Janardhan and Vice President Rajashree Hegde, MLAs Abayachandra Jain and Prabhakar Bangera were present.