Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)
Kundapur, Mar 25: In view of mounting opposition for the proposed underpass as part of national highway widening work at Navunda in the taluk, Udupi district deputy commissioner, Priyanka Mary Francis, local subdivision assistant commissioner, Shilpa Nag, and officials of national highways department visited the spot and conducted inspection on Friday March 24.
The highway department officials expressed the view that underpass construction can result in less number of accidents. They opined that U-turn, if provided at the spot, will result in increased number of accidents with passage of time as density of traffic is set to increase. They therefore strongly advocated for construction of underpass.
Expressing views on behalf of local citizens, Ashok Shetty said that this happens to be a densely populated area located near PU college. "If underpass is built, the localities on two sides of the highway will lose all contact between them. If some immoral activities happen here, people living on either side will not be aware of it. Therefore, instead of underpass here, please provide underpass at Navunda downtown that is just 400 km from here," he suggested.
The deputy commissioner asked the taluk panchayat members and other people's representatives present at the time for their opinions. As they too expressed themselves in one voice against the underpass s proposal, the deputy commissioner and other officials gave their nod.
During this period, a local, Raghavendra, insisted on construction of underpass at this point. Angered by his stand, locals got into heated verbal exchange with him giving rise to tense moments. Ashok Shetty intervened and saw that the incident did not give rise to untoward incidents. For about 15 minutes, high tension had prevailed there.
BJP leader, B M Sukumar Shetty, Deepak Kumar Shetty, zilla panchayat member, Shankar Poojary, president, vice president and members of Navunda gram panahcyat apart from taluk panchayat members were present.