Gokarna: Local people under the aegis of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike Gokarna unit staged a protest at Gangavali on Monday demanding the construction of a bridge between Gangavali and Manjaguni.
Speaking on the occasion, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike district leader Bhaskar Patgar said that foundation stone for the bridge was laid long back but the construction work had not begun. This bridge would help the people, particularly farmers, traders, fishermen and working class in the district. Though the project had got necessary approval, the construction work was not taking off.
He also cautioned of intensifying the protest in case the work was not initiated.
Nadumaskeri gram panchayat president Haneef Saab said that approval for construction of four bridges in the district had been given and first among the list was Gangavali-Manjaguni bridge. Though construction work of all the other bridges had begun, the Gangavali-Manjaguni was yet to take off. As per the guidelines of the government, the first work must be given top-most priority.
But in this case, all the guidelines had been thrown to the wind.
Responding to the appeal of the protesters, Assistant Engineer of Road Development Corporation, Hubballi division Santosh Athani said that they were facing some obstacles in the construction of the Gangavali-Manjaguni bridge. “The Gangavali-Manjaguni area is near to the sea and so, aspects like tidal ups and downs, water collected during the rainy season, dimensions (height, length and width) of the bridge have to be studied in depth. There has been a delay in framing a project taking all the aspects into consideration. The approval for the project is expected in another two to three days. In such case, the construction of the bridge will begin on February 15”, Santosh said.
Karnataka Rakshana Vedike District Secretary Ganapathi Naik, gram panchayat members, Congress leaders, social workers, BJP leaders and others were present. Kumta CPI Santosh Shetty and Gokarna PSI Santoshkumar M looked after the security during the protest.