Unscientific construction along NH-66 caused landslide near Shirur, says Karnataka minister Krishna Byre Gowda
Seven people died in the landslide that took place near Shirur village in Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada district on Tuesday. Many others are still missing
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A total of seven bodies have been recovered from the site of the landslide and many are still missing. (Express Photo)Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has claimed that unscientific road construction along National Highway 66 was responsible for the landslide near the Shirur region of Ankola in the Uttara Kannada district on July 16. Seven people have died in the incident and several others are still missing.
“In Karwar, near Ankola, a landslide has occurred on the national highway. While constructing the national highway, they have cut the hill in a steep manner, it is almost a vertical cut. When a hill is cut for an infrastructure project, a slope is usually provided in order to prevent landslides in the rainy season,” Byre Gowda said in the state legislature on Friday, speaking about the road construction measures deployed to expand the highway.
“If you cut the hill in a vertical manner at a 90-degree angle, it is a manner of welcoming a disaster during the monsoon. The national highway has been designed in an unscientific manner and this is the cause of the landslide is what the people are saying,” Byre Gowda said.
“On one side there is a landslide, on the other side there is water that is standing at a height of five feet on the national highway. Our officials had to travel in a truck on account of high water levels on the highway to reach the spot of the landslide,” he said. “The chief secretary has spoken to the NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) about the unscientific manner of design,” he added.
A total of seven bodies have been recovered from the site of the landslide and many are still missing.
“So far we have recovered seven bodies including that of a family and two lorry drivers. There is news that a lorry belonging to Sagar Timber Company is missing. The GPS location is provided. The family of the lorry driver from Kozhikode has said that there has been no communication for four days. Heavy vehicles are working 24/7 to remove the debris from the highway to find the missing lorry and its driver,” the Uttara Kannada district Superintendent of Police M Narayana said.
The last GPS location for truck driver Arjun S from Kerala has been identified as the landslide spot, the district police said earlier on Friday. Arjun, who is from Kozhikode, was driving a Benz lorry with the registration number KA-15-A-7427.
Rescuers are using heavy equipment at the site of the landslide to find the truck driver and several others who are believed to have stopped at a roadside hotel when the landslide occurred on July 16.
The landslide occurred near Shirur village under the Ankola police station limits of the Uttara Kannada district, on the edge of National Highway 66, at around 8.30 am on July 16.
Union Minister for Heavy Industries H D Kumaraswamy visited the site of the landslide on Saturday and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is expected to visit on Sunday.
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