Protest brings Victory for NH 75 Struggle Committee- Roads Rectified in 2 Weeks
Mangaluru: Following close on its heels after the National Highway 75 Struggle Committee (Rastriya Heddari Horatta Samiti)- Nelliyadi held a press meet at Mangaluru Press Club on 9 October briefing about their protest and road block, against the pathetic condition of the highway road- and this morning after holding a mega protest in a open ground in Nelliyadi- the protesters numbering over 3000 plus received good news from NHAI Official Kamaraj that most of the road repair work will be done in two weeks time, and the Highway work will commence in three months.
While addressing the protesters, Kamaraj’s assurance of the road work to be completed soon brought some relief to the crowd, who decided to withdraw the protest, hoping that the NHAI official would keep his promise. The nearly 3000 protesters from nearly 25 different organizations with a motto, “Our Road is our Right.. Save our Road and Save our Lives” gathered under the leadership of ‘Rashtriya Heddari Horatta Samiti-Nellyadi’ raised their voices asking the concerned officials to solve the problems they are facing due to bad roads.
Their demand was to repair the dilapidated road from B C Road to Gundiya which has not been completed for three years, even though Rs 821 crores was sanctioned for the project, and the contractor-Larsen and Toubro Ltd who took up the work had finished only 10% of the work. Due to the bad roads, there have been numerous accidents, including loss of lives. Students going to school and colleges, working people, seniors and sick people face hardship commuting due to the pathetic condition of the roads.
Speaking to Team Mangalorean over the phone, Fr Varghese K- the President of NH 75 Struggle Committee-Nelliyady said, “As said earlier during the press meet, that we want an assurance from any NHAI official to come and speak during the protest and give us a real answer, for which Kamaraj, an NHAI official spoke to the protesters and assured them that the patching of road work will be completed within two weeks and work on NH will commence within three months. Depending on his word we will withdraw our protest for the moment. If NHAI fails to keep up their word, we will once again intensify our protest, and with our aim of “Save Our Road & Save Our Lives” will continue until our demands are met”.
The president of Action Committee Fr Varghese K inaugurated the protest march at Gandhi Maidan, in the Nelliyady town, Fr Adarsh Joseph, Abraham Varghese, Jayanand Bantriyal, Subrahmanya G. addressed the gathering. (executive members) Advocate Ismail welcomed the gathering and Jose K. J. Secretary delivered the vote of thanks.
Speaking to Team Mangalorean Fr Adarsh Joseph, the executive committee member said, “This is indeed a small victory for us for all the efforts we took, and we only hope that NHAI will keep their word as one of their representatives assured us during the protest. With the present condition of the roads, Loss of life and property has become a norm. Students, Patients, old and the public at large are heavily inconvenienced. Our repeated pleas to repair the roads to the concerned people went in vain. Those who should be accountable turned insensitive and unresponsive to the woes and tribulations of the people. Now, moving on this stretch of the road is a life-threatening experience. As per the contract terms, the completion of road work should have been done by September 2019, unfortunately, only 10% of the work is done. With all humility, we requested the concerned authorities to take the necessary steps to solve the above-said problem. Since we didn’t receive any response, hence the National Highway – 75 Struggle Committee, Nelliyady unanimously decided to hold this protest”.