Locals Protest against inconveniences caused by the half-complete grade separator work at Sathekatte
Udupi: The Locals of Santhekatte along with college students staged a protest against inconveniences caused by the half-complete grade separator work at the busy Kallianapura-Santhekatte Junction on National Highway 66 near Udupi on Monday, April 29.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has opened one of the two underpass lanes of the NH for vehicular traffic recently with through vehicles in both directions of Udupi-Kundapur utilising the underpass.
Speaking on the occasion Vinod Kumar president of Nagarika Hitharakshana Vedike said that it has been two years since the underpass work started here. Work is going on at a very slow pace. The service road has not yet been completed and the rest of the road has been closed. This is causing traffic jams every day.
Accidents are happening every day due to the chaos here. People’s representatives including MLAs should fix the problems here immediately. No one knows where the bus stand is since the buses stop everywhere. Overall, the life of the people here is pathetic, he said,
During the protest, the public and students alleged that with no specific designated stops for service and express buses near the Junction, they were forced to walk long distances to board the buses. As buses sometimes stop near the underpass and sometimes near the Junction, people are confused about where to wait for the buses, they said.
Opening one of the two underpass lanes to facilitate smooth movement of vehicles is causing more trouble than easing the woes at the Junction, they said. Students and the elderly are suffering the most because of the confusion.
People said that their happiness over the sanctioning of the grade separator appeared short-lived as the work dragged on for many days. While the NHAI says that the reason for the delay is the presence of rocks and boulders, people wonder whether the agency requires a year to remove the rocks and boulders. They also want the NHAI to repair the service roads to facilitate the smooth movement of vehicles.
Arriving at the scene after hearing about the protest, Yashpal Suvarna, Udupi MLA, promised to speed up the work.
The NHAI commenced the grade separator work in January 2023 with Hubballi-based M/s Trinity Construction getting the contract at an estimated cost of Rs 24 crore. The Contractor was expected to complete the work within a year. Landslips, the presence of rocks and boulders, etc. have delayed the completion of the work.