A Twitter handle, Mangalore City, sent out a tweet on Friday to create awareness on the poor road connectivity between Bengaluru and Mangaluru. They added a hashtag #ConnectUsToMangalore. The tweet said that they want to get the attention of the authorities and the situation could be changed.
This tweet is now trending on Twitter and over 4,000 people have tweeted with the hashtag. The campaign wants to draw attention to the plight of the roads connecting the major cities and ghat roads - Shiradi Ghat and Charmadi Ghat - are two of them. These two roads negotiate through the Western Ghats.
Many have tweeted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Nitin Gadkari and Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu to get their attention on the situation.
#connectustomangalore @OfficeOfNG @narendramodi @hd_kumaraswamy We travel between Bangalore and Mangalore risking our life through charmadi Ghat...We need a permanent solution to the connectivity between 2 major cities Bangalore and Mangalore ? https://t.co/pe55u3yXok
— Nithin K Bhandary (@BantwalNITHIN) August 25, 2018
Respected @DefenceMinIndia ma’am, Thank You for visiting the rain affected areas, please do take up the road connectivity issue with @nitin_gadkari ji and @narendramodi ji to reconnect Mysore/Coorg to Mangalore roads #ConnectUsToMangalore
— Vijet Shetty (@vijetshetty) August 25, 2018
This morning I got up at night.
— KarthiK (@DancingDiamond_) August 25, 2018
Just to have glimpse of Charmadi.
Horribly Terribly dangerous it has become.
One more heavy shower and you can see landslides galore.#connectustoMangalore #ConnectMeToBangalore
Many have spoken about how difficult it is to travel on the road and it takes hours to reach Mangalore by road. They went on to say that the road is shut most of the months due to rains or repair and other modes of transport is either too expensive (airways) or uncomfortable (railways).
Gokul Kumar, a 27-year-old working in Bengaluru recently travelled to Mangalore by road. When International Business Times India spoke to him, he said, "What was supposed to be an eight-hour journey became an 18-hour journey. All the three ghat roads were closed so we went via Kudremukh and made our trip longer. The flights are too expensive and direct trains to Mangalore were cancelled. They go via Kerala so it doesn't make sense to travel by train or flight. Travelling by bus is our only bet but the roads are bad." Gokul Kumar is just thankful that the bus driver was capable enough to manoeuvre the bus through the hills without much difficulty.
Gopal Pai Maani, an analyst who is leading the Twitter campaign, told The Hindu said that even though the situation is tough due to the rains in Kodagu, things are not looking good near Mangaluru as well due to poor connectivity.
He said, "It is not that we are insensitive to the happenings in Kodagu and we have chipped in our bit to alleviate the woes in Kodagu. At the same time, people want affordable travelling between Bengaluru and the coast. It could be to see ailing parents or to attend some family event; many want to travel regularly in the sector."
