Ex-CM Siddaramaiah postpones inspection of Bengaluru-Mysuru highway

BENGALURU: With the inauguration of Bengaluru-Mysuru highway upgradation from a state highway to a National Highway (275) on the cards by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah postponed his inspection of the quality of works on the highway.

He was to make an inspection of the highway today and citing that he has to attend a screening committee meeting on Thursday to finalise candidates for the ensuing Assembly polls, he has postponed his inspection.  

The inspection of the highway works by Siddaramaiah assumes significance since Mysuru-Kodagu Member of Parliament Pratap Sinha has attributed the credit for construction of Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway into 10-lane to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former Public Works Minister and Congress leader H.C. Mahadevappa, who stated that the upgradation got okayed from the then Union minister for Roads Transport and Highways Oscar Fernandez in April, 2014.

When the upgradation was approved, Mahadevapa said, then Mysuru-Kodagu was represented by A.H. Vishwanath who was with the Congress party at that time.

There are complaints of the upgraded highway not meeting the quality standards and Mandya Lok Sabha member Sumalatha Ambareesh on February 8 this year met Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and took the issue to his notice. She told Gadkari that on the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway, there are a number of ‘black spots’ identified by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and also expressed the need to improve the road safety on the highway. 

It is pertinent to note that during an inspection, a couple of days back, by Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha member Pratap Simha, he directed officials concerned of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to expedite the works on the highway especially about 2-km road works near Budanoor of Mandya.

After a stretch of the highway was opened for vehicular movement about six months back from Kumbalgodu to Nidaghatta, it has reported about 110 accidents and about 41 persons have lost their lives on the stretch.

However, the NHAI officials attributed the road accidents to overspeeding vehicles and lack of lane discipline on the highway and denied ‘unscientific’ works. Travellers on the highway have observed that no proper signages were installed on the highway.