At a time when the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been accused of carrying out only namesake highway restoration work between BC Road and Gundya on National Highway 75, the National Highways Division of the State Public Works Department has been silently restoring the battered Charmadi Ghat stretch of National Highway 73.
The ghat section witnessed devastation during this as well as previous monsoon with the authorities concerned banning the movement of vehicles for some time. Boulders rolled down, landslips occurred and gorges caved in at multiple locations on the ghat road.
A crucial link
Charmadi Ghat is a crucial stretch connecting Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts with the rest of the State. It is also the gateway to popular pilgrim centre Dharmasthala. Meanwhile, the process of widening NH 73 from BC Road till the base of Charmadi Ghat is also being taken up in phases.
Karthik Shenoy, a regular user of the stretch and member of WhatsApp forum “NH 75 Travellers”, said, “The entire Charmadi Ghat stretch is being paved with bitumen and the ghat section is very good now for travelling.”
Mr. Shenoy further said that all the guard walls of the ghat road have been restored providing sufficient indication to drivers for a safe journey.
MLA’s work
Roshan Sequeira said, “This ghat stretch gets repaired without much noise.” And, forum convener Gopal Pai Mani said, “The MLA [Harish Poonja] has spearheaded the repairs of the ghat stretch that was battered two years ago.”
Meanwhile, other members of the forum pointed out at the haphazard way in which pothole-filling on National Highway 75 was being carried out between BC Road and Gundya and between Maranahalli and Hassan. The members said that pothole-filling was being carried out for namesake by the NHAI and that the work would not stay for long.
Stretches restored
Executive Engineer of PWD’s NH Division, Mangaluru, Ganapathi Hegde said that the department first removed all the fallen boulders and thereafter widened culverts as far as possible on the stretch.
Tender was awarded for paving the ghat stretch falling in Dakshina Kannada and Chikkamagaluru districts at a cost of ₹ 7.68 crore before COVID-19 and the works too started then. And, works have now resumed following different phases of Unlock and in about a fortnight, the entire stretch between Charmadi and Kottigehara would be paved, Mr. Hegde said.
