Mangaluru: Road work at snail’s pace affects locals at Tannirbhavi

MANGALURU: The tourists and locals who commute on Tannirbhavi Road are at the receiving end, since road concretisation work on this stretch is going on at a snail’s pace. It is resulting in traffic pile-ups every day, and has hit tourism activities, that just started a few weeks ago.
Tannirbavi Road is the only stretch that connects Kasba Bengre and Thota Bengre, as well as Tannirbhavi to the main road. A total of 25,000 residents depend on this road. The road also leads to Tannirbhavi Beach, one of the favourite destinations of tourists. If the road can’t be used, then residents and tourists have to take a ferry.
“The road concretisation work is taking longer than usual. As a result, both tourists and locals have to wait in serpentine traffic jams. There are several instances where I have been stuck in traffic for more than an hour. Besides, I have also noticed that several tourists, after seeing traffic snarls, return back from the spot, without visiting Tannirbhavi Beach,” said local Poonam S, who works for an automobile firm.
Ashok, who runs a small food joint at Tannirbhavi Beach, said that the roadwork has hit his income. “The tourism activities have just started. We do good business on weekends and holidays. However, this Dasara, though there was a flow of tourists, a majority of them returned without visiting the beach, after witnessing a traffic jam,” he said.
About 25,000 residents depend on this road, and the slow pace of work causes hurdles for them, especially during emergencies. Lokesh Suvarna, a resident of Thota Bengre, said that work on one stretch of the road was completed a few months ago. The second phase of work at ward 11 began three months ago. However, it is delayed due to fund issues and rain. In the ongoing work, concretisation on one side of the road is completed, and work on the other side is yet to start. Therefore, the vehicles have to move from one side, and the narrow stretch can accommodate medium-sized vehicles.
“When heavy vehicles move, the entire stretch gets blocked for hours, causing inconvenience. The other available route to reach the city is by ferry, which has fixed timings. Locals face issues when taking children, the elderly, and pregnant women to get medical care. We request the authorities to complete the work at the earliest,” Suvarna appealed. “I will seek a report from the authorities. Meanwhile, I will also ask them to expedite the work on the stretch,” said MCC commissioner Akshy Sridhar.