The Hindu : Barapole bridge benefits 20 Kodagu villages

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 15, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Barapole bridge benefits 20 Kodagu villages

By Jeevan Chinnappa

KOOTIYALA (KODAGU DT.), MARCH 14. The much-awaited Barapole bridge across the Barapole in Virajpet taluk of Kodagu is ready.

Work on the bridge, which commenced on October 16, 1998, should have been completed on December 15, 2000. It took almost five years for the completion of the bridge at a cost of Rs. 69.55 lakh.

Objections raised by the Forest Department to the construction of the bridge in the initial stage impeded the progress of the project assisted by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. The department contended that building roads to connect the Badagarakeri side with the B. Shettigeri area would destroy forests and endanger wildlife in the Brahmagiri Sanctuary. The objections came just when concrete pillars were being erected on the riverbed. There was considerable delay in the progress of work afterwards. The work on the bridge resumed only after a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Forest Department and the Public Works Department on February 9, 2002. They agreed on the construction of a road from the Badagarakeri side to the B. Shettigeri area on the periphery of the sanctuary.

The Kongana, which joins the Kakkatuhole near Kootiyala, assumes the name Barapole where a dam was supposed to be built. The project did not take off owing to widespread protests in Kodagu.

V. Sridhara Murthy, Assistant Executive Engineer of the Public Works Department, Virajpet Subdivision, who is in charge of the construction work, said that work on the approach roads would be taken up as soon as funds were released. The peripheral route of 650 metres on the Badagarakeri side had been marked. A proposal seeking Rs. 1 crore under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) had been submitted to the Government for approval. Other road projects had been included in the proposal, he added.

The bridge provides easy access to the people of B. Shettigeri, Birunani, T. Shettigeri, Badagarakeri, Biruga, Srimangala, Kutta and surrounding areas to Virajpet. The advantage of the bridge is it cuts down the travelling distance from Virajpet to distant areas such as Badagarakeri Cross, which in turn is linked to T. Shettigeri, Srimangala, Birunani and other remote areas of south Kodagu, by 20 km.

People of the region have started using the bridge and the "kutcha" road to reach Badagarakeri from B. Shettigeri.

Mr. Murthy said a metalled zilla panchayat road existed up to 1.5 km. on the B. Shettigeri side from Bittangala towards the bridge site. Another 1.1 km. was a "kutcha" road from where it led to the bridge.

A stretch of 650 metres had to be built from the Badagarakeri side. It included a minor bridge and a culvert.

From the end of the 650-metre stretch, another 5.5 km. had to be asphalted and there was no dispute over this stretch of the road, Mr. Murthy added. The bridge is expected to benefit 20 villages in south Kodagu.

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