Karwar: Headquarter of Uttara Kannada (UK) district, continues to face infrastructure woes.

Karwar lies on the Arabian sea and is the headquarters of Uttara Kannada (U.K) district, in northwest Karnataka, bordering the tiny state of Goa to its north. The NH 66, passing through the city connects the states of Karnataka and Goa.

All Lives are Precious: The monsoons this calendar year have been fierce, and the city has faced the brunt of the torrential downpour since the last month and still counting. As Karwar is surrounded by wooded hills; and at Habbuwada side, a family had a miraculous escape after a part of the mountain caved in on their residence. Since the rains started pounding mid July, the people were left running for cover to save their properties and their precious lives.

Firstly, it was people from the villages of Arga, Binaga, Todur and Chendia where the unscientific work done by IRB affected them severely. Their houses were flooded as the rain water did not have an outlet to the sea. Some of them were seen getting into arguments with the non cooperative naval authorities. Did their prayers and pleas convince them or did it fall on deaf ears? Even the district administration, elected representatives and all concerned were seen talking to them. In the above mentioned affected villages, it’s become an annual event every monsoon. Is there any lasting solution to the severe flooding and the final outcome is keenly awaited?

The series of nature’s fury continued further, and the next on the list was the landslide at Sirur, in Ankola taluk of UK district. A severe landslide cut off the traffic and the entire district administration along with the state officials were trying to rescue people. Some of them were feared dead and missing, under the debris. Large vehicles also known to have swept away in the Gangavali river, running parallel to NH 66. Men, machinery and the media worked overtime in the rescue work. The Sirur landslide was visited by a Union Minister and the state’s Chief Minister.

River Kali originates in Joida taluk of UK district and after its journey for 184 kms, it joins the Arabian sea at Sadashivgad. And the next calamity to strike Karwar, was a four plus decades old bridge built on river Kali on the confluence of the river and sea. A. In the wee hours of August 07, the bridge collapsed. A truck driver was rescued by the local fishermen. An alert beat police constable attached to the Chittakula police station, Sadashivgad side was also lauded for his sense of duty. He’s known to have averted a bigger tragedy by timely stopping the vehicles heading to the fallen bridge.

There are religious structures along the banks of the Kali river. The locals invoked divine intervention that the bridge collapsed happened during the night. The existing bridge on river Kali is not known to have adequate lighting for people travelling during the night.

Questionnaire: A city is best governed by the people residing in it, and what has been their participation? The locals (in any place) need to answer whether they’ve become arm chair critics and keyboard warriors on local social media groups?

So, who takes the responsibility for the infrastructure woes which have tested the endurance and the physical strength of the roads and the bridges? Has a safety audit of all public utilities like roads, bridges and community halls been done in the past? And did the locals and aware citizenry granted access to them? Have the adhoc guarantees and promises by the concerned departments helped in fixing the problems? And what if something far more serious happens in the near future? Divine intervention may also work even the next time, but will it work every time? If this is the plight of the district headquarters, one can imagine the state of all the taluks in the geographically large Uttara
Kannada district?