Ore-laden trucks damage National Highway 4A
Everyday about 6,000 tippers ply between North Karnataka and Goa
Due to heavy plying of lorries carrying ore the National Highway 4A, a connecting road between North Karnataka and Goa, has been completely destroyed.
The stretch of the highway especially between Tinai Ghat and Anamod Ghat region has been thoroughly damaged. Eventhough, the distance between Belgaum and Panaji is barely 154 km it takes more than five hours to cover the distance.
The extensive use of this road by lorries carrying ore from Bellary to the Goa port has amounted to its destruction. Everyday around 5,000 to 6,000 tippers use this road. The Tinai Ghat area is virtually covered by red dust of the ore. Basic precautionary measures to control air pollution have been flouted. In the last two years, the National Highways division (NHD) of Public Works Department has spent around Rs 1.32 crore to fill up pot holes on this road.
However, even after the repair work the road becomes worse in no time. The 84.12 km of stretch of road between Anamod Ghat and Belgaum comes under the National Highways (Belgaum Division). While, the remaining stretch of the road is maintained by the Goa Division.
However, the Assistant Executive Engineer (Belgaum division) A Y Bendigeri told Deccan Herald that proposals have been submitted to the Government to take up permanent civil works on this road. The repair works will be completed by April. However, repair works seem like mere patch work undertaken to fill pot holes in a hurry.
In 2008-09 the NHD had received a sum of Rs 71.33 lakh for the maintenance of this road. Eventhough, the department has spent the entire amount for the road repair the condition of road continues to remain intact. In the current year, the department has spent Rs 61.5 lakh of the total Rs 81.5 lakh it has received for road maintenance. Loading and unloading of ore has caused red dust to settle on paddy fields in the stretch between Tinai Ghat and Anamod Ghat.
