Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, has said he will instruct officers to look into the demand for a tunnel road at Agumbe Ghat in Karnataka. He spoke after inaugurating several works executed by his department and laying the foundation for a few in Shivamogga on Thursday.
The Minister said Shivamogga Lok Sabha member B.Y. Raghavendra had requested the tunnel road at Agumbe Ghat (NH 169A). He would instruct his officers to examine and study the proposal in detail. After studying the proposal, the department would take a decision.
Tumakuru-Shivamogga
Referring to the improvement of NH206 between Tumakuru and Shivamogga, Mr. Gadkari said the project had been taken up in four packages at a cost of ₹6,500 crore. It would be completed by January 2025. “However, the project has been stuck at 18 km due to the delay in land acquisition. I appeal to the Public Works Minister of Karnataka to give special attention to the issue and resolve it. The people of Tumakuru, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga will be benefited once the project is over,” he said.
Chennai-Bengaluru
Further, the Minister said the Chennai-Bengaluru four-way access controlled expressway would be completed by December 2024. “The project would bring down the travel time between Chennai and Bengaluru to two-hours,” he said.
He also said that he had granted approval for two cable car projects in Karnataka. The projects would come up at Kodachadri hills in Shivamogga and Anjanadri hills in Koppal district.
Minister for Public Works Satish Jarkiholi lauded Mr. Gadkari’s efforts in improving the road network across the nation. He had met the Union Minister five times, and he (Gadkari) had resolved projects that had remained pending for over 12 years, he said
Shivamogga Lok Sabha member B.Y. Raghavendra said under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the highway network had seen significant improvement in the country. Mr. Gadkari had approved prominent projects, including the bridge at Sigandur, highways, and flyovers in Shivamogga.
Vidya Nagar RoB
The Union Minister inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for works incurring an investment of ₹6,168.41 crores. Among the projects inaugurated were the railway overbridge at Vidya Nagar in the city (NH13).
The RoB has been built at a cost of ₹43.9 crore. This would help the movement of traffic on the road that connects Shivamogga and Chitradurga districts.
Legislators Araga Jnanendra, S.N. Channabasappa, Gururaj Shetti Gantiholi, Rudre Gowda, Lok Sabha member Devendrappa, DC Gurudatta Hegde, SP G.K. Mithun Kumar and other officers were present at the programme.
