from special correspondent
Beltangady: It was just a day ago that hope was expressed in these columns that since two ministers were held up in the Charmadi traffic block for over three hours on Saturday, things could start moving faster towards easing the situation.
Whether the ministers took up the case with the officials, the media report seems to have worked. Perhaps much before the ministers could remind them, a team of officials of the national highway authority, consisting of chief engineer Mrutyanjaya Swamy, superintendent engineer Raghavan, executive engineer Nataraj and others dumped their weekend break and made a dash towards Charmadi early Sunday morning.
Two or three earth-movers have been pressed into service. Local do-gooders like Charmadi Hasanabba also lent his help by making his own arrangements for earth-movers. Vegetation on either sides of the road is being cleared and the stretches are being widened, esp., at turns, to ensure two-way traffic passes more comfortably. On the ghat section, six-wheeled vehicles are stopped and allowed to pass alternately from either side.
Police have been posted at the Charmadi gate. Heavy goods vehicles were still operating in spite of the ban to take advantage of the shorter distance. The police are stopping them at Guruvayanakere and ordering them to proceed to Karkala for onward journey via Bajagoli, Kudremukh ghat, Kalasa and Kottigehara route.
The traffic was affected again when one of the earth-overs broke down at the 9th hairpin curve on Sunday, while, ironically, it had been commissioned to solve the situation.
Beltangady: Two Ministers Feel the Heat of Charmadi Block – SP Personally Handles Chaos
