The 50-odd km stretch of the Bengaluru-Mangaluru NH 75 between Hassan and Sakleshpur still lies in a bad condition with potholes and craters following the contractor discontinuing the work for quite sometime.
However, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been able to fix potholes and craters on Sakleshpur-Marenahalli and Addahole-B.C. Road stretch, pending execution of the four-laning work.
The 150-odd km NH 75 between Hassan and B.C. Road in Dakshina Kannada, excluding the concreted Shiradi Ghat stretch, was difficult to drive on during the monsoon with potholes and craters. Road users had to launch a massive online and offline campaign to urge the Union and the State governments to restore the road as the railway connectivity too had got snapped during heavy rains.
Meanwhile, contractors for two packages of four-laning work of Hassan-B.C. Road stretch, M/s Larsen and Tubro (Addahole-B.C. Road) and M/s Isolux Corson (Hassan-Maranahalli), also expressed their inability to continue with the project albeit they had done some preliminary work. With the rains subsiding from November, the NHAI persuaded L&T to restore the highway stretch under its contract to motorable condition while the same was done for Isolux too.
The stretch in Dakshina Kannada district is almost pothole-free by now.
However, work on Hassan-Sakleshpur stretch is still limping with potholes in some lengths of the highway getting filled up while some others being left out.
A senior NHAI official said that complete pothole filling on the stretch will be undertaken once the work between Sakleshpur and Maranahalli was complete. By the end of this week, work should start, he added.
