The Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Thursday said that the partial closure of Mangaluru-Bengaluru National Highway 75 for heavy vehicles during night will severely affect the trade and commerce activities, particularly export-import trade.
Following another landslip at Donigal in Sakleshpur taluk of Hassan district on July 14, the Hassan Deputy Commissioner imposed restrictions on the movement of heavy vehicles between Heggadde and Maranahalli on NH 75.
While vehicles up to the category of buses could ply through the stretch with one-way traffic at the affected stretch, heavy vehicles were banned to operate between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Chamber president Maroor Shashidhar Pai asked, “Who will owe the accountability for this sorry state of affairs on NH 75 [landslip at Donigal]; whether the Hassan district administration or the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) or the State government or the Central government”.
Repeated demands
KCCI had been reminding the government agencies for years to provide proper road connectivity and in this January too had sought that the 11 km road in Sakleshpur taluk be made motorable.
It had warned that the connectivity would snap once the rains start pounding the Ghats. “The inevitable, made so by the agencies, has happened now and it is an insult to tax payers by the government,” Mr. Pai regretted.
Sakleshpur resident J. Paramesh said the NHAI through the concessionaire for widening the highway, M/s Rajkamal Builders, did nothing to undertake protection works at the Donigal landslip area.
The stretch had been witnessing landslips since three years and no protection works were done by the agencies concerned, he regretted.
He blamed the district administration for its lapse in making NHAI to work.
Additional expenses
The administration has directed heavy vehicles to make a detour to ply between Bengaluru and Mangaluru.
Neither the Charmadi Ghat nor the Sampaje Ghat could take goods trailer vehicles plying to New Mangalore Port. They may have to take the Hubballi-Ankola route entailing an additional 350 km. “Who would bear the additional cost,” questioned Mr. Pai.
“We have been suffering for three decades because of improper handling of the Shiradi Ghat stretch. It is an irony that the government has failed to provide good road connectivity between Bengaluru and Mangaluru,” Mr. Pai regretted.
Despite Union Road Transport and Highways Minister admitting that there was no alternative to NH 75, the agencies concerned have been neglecting the highway, he said
