Dinesh Gundu Rao
Credit: DH Photo
Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada district in charge Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has written to the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary to convene a meeting with the officials on developing Belthangady–Didupe–Elaneeru–Samse road.
A proposal should be submitted to the Central Government. Necessary coordination should be done to carry out the required survey and obtain approval from the relevant officials for the road development, he urged. In the letter, he said Elaneeru, Guthyadka, Bangargi, Ukkuda, and Kurcharu in Malavantige village of Belthangady taluk are home to hundreds of families.
In order to visit Belthangady taluk panchayat, these residents have to travel about 120 kilometres via Kudremukh–Bajagoli–Belthangady. But if Elaneeru–Didupe road is developed, the people of these regions need to travel just 9 kilometres to reach Malavanthige Gram Panchayat and 20 kilometres to reach the taluk centre.
He said the residents of the region had been demanding the development of this 9-kilometre road for many decades. But work on the development of the road needed approval from the Forest Department's Wildlife Division. During the previous government's tenure, the Wildlife Division of the Forest department had granted permission to conduct a survey for the road's development.
Yet, no progress had been observed in the survey work for the road's development till now.
Minister said that during monsoon season, landslides on Charmadi and Shiradi Ghat stretch increases traffic congestion. The connections between coastal and hilly regions are cut off, turning coastal areas into islands.
"If the Elaneeru–Didupe road is developed up to Samse, it would serve as an alternative route connecting coastal and ghat regions, " he emphasised.