Madikeri - Sampaje road opens for traffic
Amidst incomplete works, the Madikeri-Sampaje road has been opened for traffic on Wednesday.
Kodagu Deputy Commissioner had banned the movement on 28 kms of road to facilitate the development works from January 1 to April 30.
However, the road works were stopped between April 11 and 20 owing to untimely rains in the region. Hence, movement of vehicles were banned till May 31 and was directed to complete the work. However, owing to the shortage of gravels (jalli), the work on the road could not be carried out in an expected speed. Of the 28 kms, only 18 km road work has been completed from Madikeri to Devarakolli. The reamining 10 kms stretch is yet to be completed. As the remaining 10 kms road does not come under ghat section, there is no need to ban the movement of road, said Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd (KRDCL) engineer. With the ban on the movement of vehicles, the people from coastal districts were finding it diffiult to reach Kodagu or Mysore.
To go to Mysore, one had to go to Sampaje in one bus, then take another mini-bus to Madikeri and then yet another bus to reach Mysore, which was posing severe inconvenience to the commuters.
