Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (JD)
Udupi, Jan 12: The foundation stone laying ceremony for the construction of an overpass in Santhekatte was held on Thursday, January 12 at the Santhekatte junction.
Shobha Karandlanje, union minister and member of parliament for Udupi- Chikkamagaluru constituency laid the foundation stone for the project.
Speaking on the occasion, she said “This national highway construction work has been going on like a 5-year plan for more than three terms now. Even though we wanted to complete on priority, due to the unscientific DPR of the earlier government the work was delayed. An overpass in Santhekatte will be constructed at a cost of Rs 21.24 crore. Many accidents were occurring at this junction in this place and in a few other junctions of this national highway. An overpass will also be constructed at Ambalpady for which construction work will begin within a month. More than 4,500 vehicles commute on this road every day. I have instructed the project director to finish the overpass work before June 2023 and to work on three shifts. Project director and engineers should ensure this. Daily follow up should be done. Digging and overpass construction should be finished before monsoon.”
She said, “Hejmady toll collection issue is also being faced by our district. Today, due to our constant struggle and effort additional toll is not being collected at the Hejamady toll gate. Let us all join hands together and find some solution for this problem as well. Malpe – Karavali road extension is also under process. Service road should be constructed till Ambagilu on both the sides to handle the vehicle pressure during the overpass construction work” she added.
Udupi MLA Raghupathi Bhat on the occasion instructed the officials to take all the precautions and necessary supplementary solutions to handle the traffic before beginning the construction work. He said, “we have witnessed the situation of this junction live. Project director should provide us a day-wise work progress to the district commissioner. 10 meter roads should be constructed on each side. Before May 15 road work should be completed and digging for another road should also be finished. Work should be done all round the clock. Quality should be maintained and no shoddy work will be entertained. Traffic needs to be handled technically. Contractor should give the commitment to police superintendent in writing or else you need not begin the work,” he asserted.
Sumithra Nayak, president, Udupi CMC ,Kurma Rao, district commissioner, Hakay Akshay Machindra, police superintendent, Mattar Rathnakar Hegde, Manohar S Kalmady, Lingegowda, national highway project director Manjula Nayak, Dinesh Pai and others were present on the occasion.