There was a time the undivided South Canara was showcased as class example for its disciplined and well qualified people, reputed educational and financial institutions, availability of good health care access, cleaner and greener environment, excellent roads, quality bus service by private operators etc. etc. If not all, atleast few of the above are now history.
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Seeing the present condition of our roads, one will wonder whether we are heading for moon-age or treading back to stone-age! The pouring rains, plying fuel tankers and iron ore laden trucks are commonly blamed though, there is an absolute absence of a mechanism to build roads that can withstand all needs.
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Power, Road and Communications are the back-bone of any economy. While the Communication sector has been doing reasonably good (due to privatizing), Power and Road infrastructure have lagged behind particularly in Karnataka state.
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The very bridge of Udyavar which had the finest concrete finishing is now patched with asphalt as you can see in the picture. This makes ones journey down to U.S.A. (jokingly dubbed in Tulu for 'Udyavara Sankada Aapel - ಉದ್ಯಾವರ ಸಂಕದ ಆಪೆಲ್ ') memorable for wrong reasons.
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The other picture where asphalt road is almost invisible is the National Highway 17 portion in Mulki.
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It seems our elected leaders who frequent foreign countries, turn a blind eye for the quality of roads seen there!
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Photographs by : Robert Fernandes, Udyavar.
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