The Udupi Zilla Hitarakshana Vedike has criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for Udupi-Chikkamagaluru parliamentary seat, Shobha Karandlaje, for failing to expedite the widening work of NH 66 in Udupi district during her tenure as MP.
Addressing presspersons here on Saturday, Bhaskar Shetty, convener, said that the vedike had repeatedly brought the MP’s attention to the slow pace of the widening work and the unscientific nature of its construction.
The unscientific work without proper service roads had led to several accidents in the last five years, he said.
The flyover near Shastri Park in Kundapur had still not been completed and the highway was not suitable for pedestrians.
The authorities had not even taken up the planting of saplings by the side of the highway, he said.
Even the widening of the Udupi-Parkala stretch of NH 169A was unscientific. There were many educational institutions on this stretch and the way the work was taken up, it would be difficult for students to cross the road even after completion of the work, he said.
Mr. Shetty said that it was a tragedy that four months after the fishing boat from Malpe, with seven fishermen, went missing off the Goa coast on December 15, 2018, it had still not been traced.
“When we can shoot down satellites in the sky, why is it that we have not been able to trace the boat?” Mr. Shetty asked.
Premanand Kalmady, member of the executive committee of the vedike, was present.