Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (MB)

Mangalore, Aug 27: Speaking to mediapersons here on Sunday, district minister in charge B Nagaraj Shetty announced that the union government has approved a sum of Rs 25 crores for immediate repairs to the Talapady-Karwar stretch of the national highway 17.

Talapady lies south of Mangalore and is on the boundary between Karnataka and Kerala, while Karwar is the district headquarter of Uttar Kannada district, past Udupi district. This in effect means that the amount would take care of the stretch in three districts.

Shetty further said that the Shiradi ghat road linking Dakshina Kannada with Hassan district, which is part of NH 48 running onward to Bangalore, is being planned to be upgraded into a 4-lane concrete road. A study is in progress and the union government has earmarked Rs 32 crores for the project, he said. For immediate repairs, a sum of Rs 5 crore has been released, he revealed.

A sum of Rs 40 crore would be released for the upkeep of the roads within the Mangalore city limits. Work on laying of interlock bricks at certain points has already begun. The state highway between Mani and Mysore via Puttur, Sullia and Madikeri is being planned to be upgraded into a four-laner, he further said.

On the same occasion, Shetty also said that in view of the public's opposition to the plan to divert the Netravati river, a project called Pashchima Vahini costing Rs 800 crore is being mulled. A memorandum on a proposed Saubhagya Sanjivini, expected to cost between Rs 6 to 8 crore, aimed at interlinking 12 rivers of DK, Udupi and Uttar Kannada districts, would be submitted to the chief minister who is currently in the city, on Friday, he informed.