Mysuru: Following a massive social media campaign over the demand for an Emergency Super-Speciality Hospital in Kodagu, over 30 youths from Bengaluru under the banner of Kodava Riders Club had organised a Motorcycle Rally this morning from Bengaluru to Kodagu. 

The rally route is Bengaluru-Mysuru-Gonikoppal-Virajpet-Madikeri and it was flagged off from Bengaluru Kodava Samaja premises in Vasanthnagar at 4.45 am by former Police Officer Biddanda Ashok Kumar or ‘Tiger Ashok Kumar’. The rally was organised under the leadership of Ajjikuttira Pruthvi Subbaiah. 

The tourist hotspot of Kodagu is a hilly district in the lap of Western Ghats and covers an area of 4,102 sq km. Even today, however, the district does not have a major Hospital and the existing Hospitals at Gonikoppal, Virajpet and Madikeri are in a pathetic state with no infrastructure and staff. 

The residents have been forced to travel more than a hundred kilometres, either to Mangaluru, Mysuru or Bengaluru, to avail benefits of advanced medicine, even in case of an emergency and most of the patients die before they reach their destination hospitals. 

Addressing the rallyists, Ashok Kumar said that many Kodagu residents have been demanding a multi-speciality hospital since years but successive Governments have not taken any steps in this direction. He flayed the historical neglect faced by Kodagu in spite of the district being the origin of River Cauvery and many stated that many athletes and soldiers hail from there. The demand for such a medical facility is justified and the Government must listen to the pleas, he opined. 

Journalist Manippanda Santhosh Thammaiah also spoke and he too regretted the step-motherly attitude of successive State Governments towards Kodagu. He added that a super-speciality hospital for Kodagu is the need of the hour as it will benefit the people of Kodagu as well as the tourists.

The rallyists reached Mysuru Kodava Samaja at around 7.30 am and Kodava Samaja authorities here had arranged breakfast. The rallyists left Mysuru at 8.15 am and will take the route of Gonikoppal, Ammathi, Virajpet and Madikeri. A public function has been organised at Ammathi and a memorandum will be submitted to Kodagu Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy who will be in Ammathi today. 

The bike-borne team will leave Madikeri to Kushalnagar and participate in an event at Kodagu Sainik School, Koodige where awareness will be created among school children about safe driving. Later, the rallyists will leave for Bengaluru.