Road is a luxury for residents of these villages

Over 50 houses in Badakere, Koladabadi and Devandabettu under Gurupura gram panchayat lack an approach road. Though the residents have been submitting requisitions to the elected representatives to lay a road for the past 20 years but to no avail.

Providing road connectivity to every village in the country is the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Incidentally, these villages were identified as flood prone way back in 1974. However, no development work has been taken up so far.

The nearest road to Badakare, Koladabadi and Devandabettu is National Highway 169. The lack of road connectivity has severely inconvenienced residents particularly during monsoon.

One of the worst affected are schoolchildren, who have to cross waterlogged paddy fields infested with snakes including venomous. Many villagers have already suffered snake bites.

“We face extreme difficulties when someone falls sick in these villages,” residents said.

When B Nagaraj Shetty was MLA, a proposal to develop road from Gurupura Kukkadakatte passing through Koladabadi Sri Sadashiva Temple-Badakare-Kordabbu Daivasthana-Nadugadde to connect Bypass road was submitted. A sum of Rs 14 lakh was sanctioned for the purpose. However, it remained neglected as the land owners had objected to the proposal. Lack of coordination among residents now prevents them from taking the proposal forward.

“If a road is laid passing through Sri Sadashiva Temple at Koladabadi, then it will benefit the local residents. A lake spread over one acre of land near the temple too needs to be desilted to recharge ground water table,” said a resident.