Mangaluru: Everyone travelling between the coastal region and the hinterland, including Bengaluru, is in for a round two of travel hassles, as the Shiradi Ghat will be closed once again, to facilitate the remaining work on Shiradi Ghat.
It has been reported that the contractor will commence reconstruction work in a couple of months— laying a 13 km concrete road between Kempuhole Guest House and Addahole near Gundya, and laying 21 km bitumen road between Gulagale and Heggadde.
While the Ghat road had been closed for over eight months from January this year, there have been demands to allow at least one-way traffic as the alternative routes were not only circuitous but also inconvenient to road users. However, there is no positive response to the demands.
The National Highways Division of the Karnataka Public Works Department, which is executing the work, is in favour of complete closure of the Ghat road this time as well.As the contractor uses paver machine to lay concrete, allowing movement of vehicles on one portion of the road would not be feasible, it has been told.
However, this time the department would take utmost care to ensure that the work is completed on time. Before commencing the work, it would see that the contractor has gathered at least 70 per cent of the raw material, so that work would not stop midway for want of material. During the first phase, untimely rain, spreading for over a month, had played spoilsport, an official said told the media.
Meanwhile, the exact period of the closure and alternative routes would be decided at a high-level meeting to be held in Bengaluru after the contractor is formally asked to go ahead with the work, the official said.
