Hassan: Former Prime Minister and Rajya Sabha MP HD Deve Gowda has urged the Centre to take all measures including construction of a tunnel on the Shiradi Ghat road on the National Highway 75 to safeguard against the risk of landslides on the Mangalore-Bangalore route.
Deve Gowda took up the issue at a meeting with the Union Minister of Highways and Land Transport Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi. The area is part of the Western Ghats now increasingly prone to landslides. In the light of the Wayanad landslide recently, there is great concern over the risk of more such calamities in the deforested portions of the Western Ghats.
Responding positively to the representation, the Minister said that the Central Government is ready to construct and develop a tunnel on the Shiradi Ghat Road if the Karnataka Government allots a small section of forest land. He said that the state government should respond to this. The project entails investment of several thousand crores. Nitin Gadkari assured that his department will study various aspects of the tunnel project.
