Mangalore-Shimoga stretch of NH13 unlikely to be widened

[email protected] (Raviprasad Kamila, The Hindu)
March 21, 2011

road

Mangalore: A proposal of the Centre to widen the National Highway No. 13 between Mangalore and Shimoga into two lanes is unlikely to become a reality soon. It is because of issues related to Kudremukh National Park (KNP) and other forest area along the stretch.

Official sources told The Hindu that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), under the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, had recently asked the private agency which prepared the draft feasibility report on widening the stretch to revise it by exploring an alternative route.

The agency had submitted the report to the ministry on July 16, 2010.

The Ministry had identified the stretch for widening into two lanes under Phase 4 of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP). The highway from Mangalore passes through Kaikamba, Moodbidri, Karkala, Kerekatte, Kudremukh National Park, Sringeri, Koppa, Tiirthahalli, Mandagadde and Gajanur to reach Shimoga.

The Government had planned for widening the stretch ranging from 3 metres to 5 metres to ensure a common width of 10 metres all along, including a 1.5-m paved shoulder on either side.

The website of the NHAI had listed the 188-km stretch on NH 13 between Mangalore and Shimoga under “tentative list of projects for future bidding”. After studying the feasibility report, sources said the NHAI had asked the agency to explore the possibility of realignment of the entire or part of the highway through an alternative route. It was mainly to avoid the 26-km stretch of the highway inside the KNP as it would be difficult to get the clearance for the project from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Sources said the NHAI had asked the agency for exploring an alternative route to avoid the “hilly and forest area, national park and bird sanctuary”.

They said the agency had been asked to explore the feasibility of linking the Port City and Malnad town through NH 206 and NH 63 or any other road in the vicinity “even if the length of the highway project might increase”.

They said the agency had been asked to study the feasibility of widening the Agumbe Ghat stretch to connect Mangalore with Shimoga via Udupi, Hebri and Thirthahalli.

Sources said a major issue connected with the project was forests. “It may be any route, it will have to pass through the Western Ghats.”

They said the agency in its draft feasibility report had recommended two options of widening the stretch each at a cost of Rs. 2,513 crore and Rs. 590 crore.

The stretch had not been considered for four-lane as the average annual daily traffic density was far lower than the stipulated 15,000 passenger car units, the benchmark for four-lane work.

According to the draft feasibility report, the average annual daily traffic on the stretch was 10,811 passenger car units (PCUs), sources said.


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Bengaluru, Apr 10: The Karnataka Education Board on Friday further postponed the annual examination for SSLC to May due to extension of lockdown to arrest spread of coronavirus which is spreading like wildfire in the state.

Minister for Primary and Higher Education S Suresh Kumar also announced that the PUC examination were also postponed to May.

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Bengaluru, Jan 12: Chief Justice of India, Sharad Arvind Bobde on Saturday hinted at the possibility of Artificial Intelligence being developed for the court system while making it clear that it will never replace human discretion.

Speaking at an event here, Bobde said, "We have a possibility of developing Artificial Intelligence for the court system. Only for the purpose of ensuring that the undue delay in justice is prevented."

"I must make it clear at the outset as there are times when even judges have asked this. AI is not going to replace human judges or human discretion", he added.

Sharing more details of his vision, he stated, "It is only the repetitive, mathematical and mechanical parts of the judgments for which help can be taken from the system...we are exploring the possibility of implementing it."

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CJI Bobde also highlighted the need for pre-litigation mediation and said, "Pre-litigation mediation is the need of the hour especially in the backdrop of a significant pendency that the courts are tackling with. There are innumerable areas where pre-litigation mediation could solve the problem."

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The new building has three floors, besides, the ground floor and two basement floors.

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