The Hindu
MANGALORE, Jul 21: People travelling on the National Highway 17, particularly on the stretch between Mangalore and Surathkal, have been experiencing unprecedented traffic jams.
The Dakshina Kannada Jilla Heddari Ulisi Horata Samiti (Save national highway action committee) has threatened to launch an agitation if the authorities did not pay attention to this problem.
People and organisations have been complaining that jams at various places have been compounded by haphazard parking of iron ore-laden lorries which are destined to New Mangalore Port.
On Saturday morning, there was a traffic jam between Kuntikan junction and Panambur from 9 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., according to an eye-witness. Police had tough time in clearing the vehicles. They were seen allowing vehicles bound to Nanthur Junction towards the city to reduce pressure on the national highway.
One of the aggrieved was Dakshina Kannada Parisarasaktara Okkuta president Updendra A. Hosbet of Surathkal, who keeps frequenting a hospital at Kuntikan Junction to visit a relative. He said, one side of the road was completely occupied by lorries carrying iron ore fines. The traffic was made to use the remaining half and any small accident or wayward driving by some driver could result in a major hold up, he said. Bottlenecks near Kuloor bridge, Baikampady and near Kudremukh were adding to the woes of commuters, he said. The ongoing construction of flyover at Surathkal was another blockade on the highway, he added.
People frequenting Udupi often complain that half the time was being taken by crossing the first 20-km stretch because of the sluggish movement of vehicles and traffic jams between Mangalore and Surathkal.
General secretary of save highway action committee Subhashchandra Shetty said in a press release here on Saturday that the lorries carrying iron ore fines were parked indiscriminately between Kuloor and Baikampady and from Surathkal to Tadambail, causing hardship to other road-users. Students and office-goers were the worst hit in the last few days.
Shetty said that his association would join hands with bus owners’ association in launching an agitation over the issue if the problem was not addressed at the earliest.
The issue surfaced at the Karnataka development programme review meeting chaired by the district in-charge Minister J. Krishna Palemar here on Saturday but without finding any solution.