Citizens Blocked Road to Get It Repaired

Citizens Blocked Road to Get It Repaired

29 October 2009

The residents of Udupi blocked the Kallianpur-Santhekatte road on October 26 for nearly two hours, demanding the early repair of the heavily damaged national highway 17 from Santekatte to Sastana. The protestors said that they would intensify their agitation if the road was not repaired within 10 days.

The “rasta roko” was led by religious leaders Shri Laximvara Tirtha Swami of Shiruru Mutt and Fr Jerome Monteiro of Kolalgiri Church. Baikadi Suprasad Shetty, the trustee of Neelavara Shri Mahishamardini Temple addressed the gathering.

MLA Raghupathi Bhat assured the protestors that he would get the highway repaired at the earliest possible. He said that an appeal has been made to the state government to provide Rs. 1.5 crores and to the central government to provide Rs 4.6 crores for the repair of the highway.

Prominent people such as B. Sudhakar Shetty of town development authority; Satish Poojary, the member of Taluk Panchayat; Umesh Shetty, president of Coastal Society; Govindraj Hegde, the convener of NH-17 protection board; and Praveen Hegde, an entrepreneur in Dubai; Harish Ram, a member of Hindu Yuva Sene, participated in this protest. A number of local people, including owners of vehicles and auto rickshaw drivers also played an active part.