‘Petty politics’ further delays Surathkal-Kana-MRPL Road work

[email protected] (CD Network)
February 17, 2017

Mangaluru, Feb 17: The execution of the repair work of the Surathkal-Kana-MRPL Road is getting delayed further, thanks to the ‘petty politics’ being played by a few ‘local leaders’. According to Mangaluru North MLA B A Mohiuddin Bava, Right wing activists led by Hindu Jagarana Vedike leader Satyajit Surathkal are now blocking the commencement of the work.

bava
On the other hand, Satyajit Surathkal who is an aspirant for BJP ticket from Mangaluru North Assembly constituency in next polls, accused the authorities of going ahead with the work without proper planning.

“Mr Surathkal was insisting on taking up the work of widening the old railway bridge before taking up the road work. However, the road work has nothing to do with work related to railway bridge and it was being raised only to delay the work,” said Mr Bava. A proposal has been already made to the Konkan Railway for building a new bridge, he added.

Mr Bava also said that he was being falsely accused of causing damage to property of a temple in Surathkal for the road work. The news was ill-founded and no damage whatsoever was being caused to the temple’s property, he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Surathkal justified his stance and said that it was necessary to have a new railway bridge as it will ease traffic movement on the new four-lane road. The MLA has not thought of rehabilitating some of the small-time vendors whose shops will be removed, he said.

Muneer Katipalla, a member of Jokattee Nagarika Hitrakashan Vedike, said Mr. Surthakal has put forth a lame objection to stall the execution of the work. “He did not raise issue of the bridge when we were fighting,” Mr. Katipalla said. He also blamed Mr. Bava for not getting the work executed in a proper way.

Ironically, the Nagarika Seva Samiti, which comprises of Left-wing activists, too had opposed the Mangaluru City Corporation’s move to commence the repair work a few months ago questioning how the civic body starts work without formal approval of the tender. Interestingly, a few days after it blocked the work, the same Samiti had called for a bandh in the area against the delay in commencement of the work!

The repair work is expected to take up jointly by the civic body and giant companies that are using the 4.6 km stretch to ply their vehicles. While Mangaluru City Corporation has agreed to spend Rs 45 lakh, the Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd., Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL), oil marketing companies HPCL, BASF and BPCL and BASF have also given funds for the repair work.

Comments

Rikaz
 - 
Sunday, 19 Feb 2017

Forget about surathkal, who is he to stop you from working....you carry on with your beautiful work....later on you can look in to bridge work....like how it can be done....etc etc

lalitha
 - 
Friday, 17 Feb 2017

as soon as possible this work should be finished bava we are facing heavy traffic please do it.

karthik
 - 
Friday, 17 Feb 2017

u dont care anybody do your good work.

Jaikanth
 - 
Friday, 17 Feb 2017

power is in your hand

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News Network
December 3,2025

arrival.jpg

Mangaluru, Dec 3: A group of Congress workers gathered at the Mangaluru International Airport on Wednesday to welcome AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, but the reception quickly turned into a display of support for Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

Venugopal arrived in the city to participate in the centenary commemoration of the historic dialogue between Mahatma Gandhi and Narayana Guru. The event, organised by the Sivagiri Mutt, Varkala, in association with the Mangalore University Sri Narayana Guru Study Chair, is being held on the university’s Konaje campus.

KPCC general secretary Mithun Rai and several party workers had assembled at the airport to receive Venugopal. However, the moment he stepped out, workers began raising slogans backing Shivakumar.

The university programme will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

This show of support comes just a day after Siddaramaiah remarked that Shivakumar would lead the government “when the high command decides.” The chief minister made the comment after a breakfast meeting at Shivakumar’s residence—another public display of camaraderie between the two leaders amid ongoing attempts by the party high command to downplay their leadership rivalry.

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News Network
December 15,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 15: Air India Express has announced that it will resume direct flight services between Mangaluru and Muscat from March 2026, restoring an important international air link for passengers from the coastal region.

Airport authorities said the service will operate twice a week—on Sundays and Tuesdays—from March 1. The initial flights are scheduled on March 3, 8 and 10, followed by March 15 and 17, with the same operating pattern to continue thereafter. The flight duration is approximately three hours and 25 minutes.

The Mangaluru–Muscat route was earlier operated under the 2025 summer schedule, with services beginning on July 14. At that time, Air India Express had operated four flights a week before suspending the service.

Officials said the summer schedule will come into effect from March 29, after which changes in flight timings and departure schedules from Mangaluru are expected. Passengers have been advised to check the latest schedules while planning their travel.

The resumption of direct flights to Muscat is expected to significantly benefit expatriates, business travellers and others, further strengthening Mangaluru’s air connectivity with the Gulf region.

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News Network
December 5,2025

Mangaluru: In a significant step to curb online hate and intimidation, Mangaluru City Police have registered a suo motu case against multiple Instagram accounts accused of circulating alleged provocative and threatening content.

While monitoring social media activity on Tuesday, Kankanady Town PSI Anitha Nikkam identified the Instagram handle ‘team_targetttt_900’ for posting a hate message alongside images of lethal weapons. Another account, ‘team_nagara_900’, allegedly shared a threatening post targeting activist Bharath Kumdelu, tagging additional pages such as KARAVALI-OFFICIAL.

Several other accounts — including ‘immu_bhai.fan’, ‘target_boy_900’, ‘kings_of_manglore’, ‘team_target_boys.900’, ‘arshad_mangalore’, ‘target_ka19_ullal’, ‘team_target__’, ‘troll_tigersz_900’, ‘tr_group_900’, and ‘team_target_900’ — are also under scrutiny for spreading similar inflammatory material, police said.

Authorities have urged citizens, especially young social media users, to report suspicious pages and avoid engaging with groups that glorify violence or threaten individuals. Online hate can quickly escalate into real-world harm, and police stress that sharing or promoting such content can attract legal consequences.

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