Work on 37 National Highways delayed by over 10 years, admits Satish Jarkiholi

Works on development of 37 national highways in Karnataka have been delayed for reasons ranging from land acquisition issues to forest clearances, Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi told the Legislative Council on Wednesday.

Works on development of 37 national highways in Karnataka have been delayed for reasons ranging from land acquisition issues to forest clearances, Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi told the Legislative Council on Wednesday.

Replying to a question from Congress member S. Ravi, the Minister acknowledged that the work on highways are going at a slow pace, and both the State and Centre are to be blamed for this. “Work on improvement of 37 National Highways have a problem in the last 10 to 12 years. We have met 10 times and the Chief Secretary has chaired six meetings to address the problem.”

Mr. Jarkiholi said that land acquisition, shifting of utilities, forest clearances and court-related matters were among the reasons for the delay. In his written reply, the Minister listed excessive seasonal and unseasonal rainfall, demand for additional structures or facilities, slow progress on part of the contractor, denial of road closure, insolvency of original contractor, delay due to impact of COVID-19 and delay in approval from Railways authorities for delay in completion of works.

To another question from BJP member Kishore Kumar Puttur, who pointed out at the travel time between Mangaluru and Bengaluru had increased from 5 to 10 hours, Mr. Jarkiholi said the land acquisition issue and diversion of traffic had caused delay. “The Mangaluru coast has lost the fish business to places in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh due to connectivity issues. Even vegetables are not coming to coastal areas since transportation cost has increased.”

“The work on the 10-km stretch between Sakleshpur and Maranahalli in Shiradi Ghat has been challenging. Despite repeated requests for closure of road to hasten the work on the four lane highway, the DC has refused permission. This is causing delay,” he said.

In his written reply, the Minister said that the work on 45 km-stretch of the ghat road had been contracted for ₹573.92 crore and was supposed to have been completed by March 2019.