Hundreds of vehicles, both goods and passenger, travelling between Mangaluru and Bengaluru remained stranded for more than 10 hours from early morning till about noon on Saturday due to work on the bad stretch between Shiradi Ghat and Sakleshpur by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). This has become a daily routine since the onset of the monsoon.
As many as five goods-laden trucks broke down while negotiating innumerable potholes and craters between Sakleshpur and Maranahalli in Hassan district causing the gridlock from both Mangaluru and Hassan.
NHAI, took over the crucial highway around four years ago for the four-laning project and awarded the contract in two packages — Hassan to Maranahalli in Hassan district (55 km, ₹400 crore) and Addahole to B.C. Road (63 km, ₹821 crore) in Dakshina Kannada district — to two contractors on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode in March 2017.
The contractors did not execute the project for various reasons and failed to maintain the existing carriageway, and the authority neither compelled them to maintain the upkeep of the road or ensure the project went ahead as scheduled.
While M/s Larsen & Toubro, the contractor in Dakshina Kannada did fill potholes in its work area last summer, M/s Isolex, the contractor in Hassan, did nothing. Consequently, the damage is severe in Hassan district.
M.N. Gowda, retired Karnataka Bhavana deputy resident commissioner said the Maranahalli-Sakleshpur stretch too is in the ghat section but authorities failed to maintain it for many years. Often driving from Gundya to Bengaluru, he takes Sullia-Madikeri route to avoid the stretch, he said.
Kishore Shiradi from Malenadu Jana Hitarakshana Vedike told The Hindu that L&T has started filling potholes between B.C. Road and Nellyadi after public pressure. Yet, potholes and craters remain between Nellyadi and Addahole, he said, adding the vedike has been pressurising elected representatives for a better road.
Meanwhile, those from the coast residing in Bengaluru have started a campaign on social media urging the Central government to address the issue immediately.
Pothole filling within a fortnight
The National Highways Authority of India has said potholes on NH 75 in Hassan and Dakshina Kannada districts would be filled within about a fortnight even as it maintained that the rain has played spoilsport.
Somashekar, General Manager (Technical) as well as in-charge Project Director of NHAI, Hassan, told The Hindu that L&T would complete pothole filling work in Dakshina Kannada shortly. In Hassan district too, the authority has invited tenders for pothole filling as M/s Isolex has gone bankrupt and the work will start in a week.
After the pothole filling, NHAI will undertake relaying of the road with a bitumen layer. Both contractors’ inability to execute the four-laning contract as well as the unabated rains were the reasons for the road going bad, he added.
