Rajmohan Unnithan, Kasaragod Lok Sabha Member said that miserable condition of National Highway 66 was an example of the neglect that Kasargod had faced at the hands of the State and Central governments.
Speaking at the launch of a 24-hour huger strike against the pothole-riddled National Highway 66 in Kasaragod on Friday, he said that the signage “Welcome to Kerala” at Talapady on the border with Karnataka should be replaced with “Welcome to Hell”.
The strike was inaugurated by IUML State treasurer C.T. Ahamed Ali. District Congress Committee president Hakkim Kunnil presided over the meeting.
“The highway has become a ‘well of death’ and I have asked the Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari to intervene and rescue the people,” Mr. Unnithan said from the protest tent pitched near the new bus stand. He said the party would stand with the people of the district to get what they deserve.
The MP warned that the 24-hour hunger strike was a token protest and he would go on a fast-unto-death protest if officials took no efforts to repair the road. The stretch of the highway passing through the district was so bad that it would take around four hours to travel 80 km, he said.
Citing various accidents, Mr. Unnithan said every day, around 125 ambulances take patients to Mangaluru.
“Even though retarring work on the Talapady-Uppala, Uppala-Kumbla and Mogral-Puthur has been tendered, the impasse between the National Highways Authority and the contractor was delaying the work,” he said.
The stretch had not been re-tarred for the past seven years. Officials and the government cited the impending widening of the highway to four-lane for not re-tarring the road, he said.
