Mangaluru, April 21: Panambur beach is one among the popular beaches of coastal Karnataka. The marvellous view at the beach draws the tourists here. The beach which is at a distance of about a kilometre from the National Highway-66 is flocked by nearly 5000-10,000 people daily. This beach draws highest number visitors among 41 beaches of coastal districts of Karnataka.
Although there is a lot of scope for this beach development to draw the tourists to this spot, there lies a drawback due to the pathetic state of roads. From the National highway to the beach, the visitors visiting the beach have to walk along the connecting road or reach by vehicle.
It is a great feat walking along this connecting road to reach the beach. This connecting stretch belongs to NMPT (New Mangalore Port Trust). Hence thousands of heavy vehicles which arrive at NMPT mainly transport coal. It has resulted in occurrence of numerous potholes on the road.
Slush sprinkled!
After there were complaints of the dust on the roads here, the NMPT arranged to fix the problem by sprinkling water using water tankers. When it failed to work well, it has installed sprinklers all along the stretch to sprinkle water to arrest the dust rising up. This is causing great inconvenience to the tourists.
The slush water mixed with black residue here will be splashed along with the sprinklers water on visitors and two wheelers riders moving on this path. Struggling to wade through the potholes here is a common scene here.
The tourists as well as the local visitors who commute by bus use the same main stretch which connects Panambur Beach. It is sad that although many times meetings were organized and demands were placed through the district administration to the NMPT to fix the problem, the problem is swelling day by day.
Movement of the trucks is almost banned on the wide stretch in front of the NMPT office. The NMPT which maintains a green and clean environment around its office has neglected the beach road used by the publics.
President of Coastal Development Authority Nivedith Alva who had recently visited Panambur beach had assured of discussing on the problem with the NMPT chief.
Beach tourism develops if the roads are good:
Panambur Beach Tourism development project officer Yatish Baikampady has said, “I have already discussed regarding this with the officers at NMPT. They have assured of resolving the problem. The tourists can be attracted only with the help of good roads to enhance beach tourism”.
He expressed that there are no benefits of using sprinklers to control dust. It is better to use containers instead of transporting the goods using trucks. But the tourists are facing inconvenience due to the movement of heavy vehicles on the beach road, he opined.
Alternative road for Panambur beach:
Alternative road is being constructed to reach Panambur Beach from Baikampady. It will be upgraded to four lane road. NMPT will use present road to transport goods. Rs 4 crores will be spent on the new road work. It has been decided to conduct survey for the new road, said NMPT president P C Farida.
