Mysuru: Contradicting the Government’s plan to shelve the straightening of the Hunsur Road stretch near Jaladarshini Guest House, Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha said, “We will try our best to straighten the road and will not allow the money sanctioned for the project to be used for other development works including the widening and asphalting of the road.”
His response came when Star of Mysore sought his reaction to reports of Government shelving the project and alternatively deciding to widen the stretch from Kukkarahalli Lake side.
“Any development project will have opposition from environmentalists. This steep curve is an accident spot and many people have lost their lives. Only a regular traveller on this road will realise how dangerous it is. Considering this situation, we decided to straighten the road and got a grant of Rs. 12 crore and even performed the ground breaking ceremony,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the green activists approached the Court. We will try our best to straighten the road,” he said. When his attention was drawn towards the plan of authorities to use the Rs. 12 crore to widen and asphalt the road, he said that the money cannot be diverted as it has to be used for that particular project. “We will take action against officers if the money is diverted,” he said.
It is sad to hear a member of parliament stating that environmentalists always opposing development projects when a project they have promoted is dropped because it violates laws they have duly passed.
In this case we have an MP who was earlier a journalist and a politician not by design. Many appreciated for the principled stand he had taken before becoming a politician. If only he has continued to stand for high principles he could have been a big asset to his party, the state and the country. Many a time MGP members had tried to interact and often he came across as a different type of leader ready to listen to activists like him. However later he avoided meeting them. It is difficult to decipher why the change came about. It is the misfortune of our city that we lost the talents of a capable leader. Even at this stage if he can start listening to people and base decision on sound logic, city will be much benefited. Let Hunsur road project be a starting point. Recently in the US, governor of Rhode Island opposed any kind of gun control. One day after he opposed guns control, a youth threatened to shoot people, the governor changed his stand and said that he would support gun control. There are many such instances in Indian political space and our MP must be very familiar with them. Can he now give up his stand on Hunsur road, change his opinion of green activists and become as popular as he was before entering politics?
nonsense arguments by bhamy v.shenoy opposing the move of pratap simsha. actually he is doing
yeomen service by straighetning road where the traffic movement now is unimaginable traffic. for any development works theses white collared environmentalists always oppose. mr. bbhamy shnoy is known for apposing for all tom dick and harry projects. he thinks is he knows the whole world and he is only brainy fellow ! Mr.pratap simha go ahead with your ideas and we need a straight road here for easy of flow traffic. let shenoy do not use this road ! in your article you are threatening mr.simha with gun culture ! mr.pratap file a case against him. pnly then theses green environmentalsisst are pleseed ot only gete their name printed in the news papers and that is all their views.
if many trees re not cut i am sure we would not have been krs in mysore. Thank god he did not poke his nose during the construction of krs.
nonsense mr.shantha, why cant all roads in mysore been make straight ?? i am staying from past 40 years and commute daily but never felt problem. shame on your stupid thinking and moreover you have doctrate for these idiotic thinking.
First of all, Pratap SImha has to realize that the road was made curvy in first place due to a reason which is to retain the trees as much as possible. Trying to straighten the road is a misplaced idea, this should be a prestige issue. Don’t blame the environmentalists, most citizens in that neighbourhood oppose this. This road is one of the best green stretches in mysore, you MPs come and go every 5 years, but such a greenery takes decades to grow and people who live there for ever will be the losers.
Let me be very clear. Accidents in this stretch were due to two reasons. First one was irresponsible driving by us the citizens including high speed, changing lane in the curve etc. Second reason is the shameful faulty street lights which don’t provide enough visibility. There are curved roads all over the world. Indian law has something called speed limits and curvy road signs, which people disrespect. So, don’t need to blame the road and the environmentalists.
This project is a faulty idea, money alloted should be returned back or used for something more useful. Pratap Simha is a very able and agile MP whose intents I find always good. But this one is highly misplaced and he should not push this to save his pride and feed his ego. PM Modi will not do this if he is in this place.