Badami tourism gets affected due to delay in ROB construction

Friday, October 29, 2021

Badami is a crucial historical and tourist destination in the state of Karnataka. Thousands of tourists worldwide visit Aihole, Pattadkal, and Badami every day. At the railway gate, there is a major obstacle, if the tourists arrive by road from Belagavi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, or Maharashtra. Vehicles are compelled to wait in longer lines whenever the train gate remains closed, as the local government and railway department are yet to build the Railway Over Bridge (ROB).

Sometimes, they might have to wait for up to a half-hour or even more, and they may have to queue for over a kilometre. Even VIPs have got stuck in that route, there are such instances in the recent past.

Vehicles arriving from and moving towards Belagavi, Jamkhandi, Mudhol, Nippani, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Sangli, and Kolhapur must pass through this level crossing gate. It’s located 22 kms from the Hubballi-Solapur national highways, according to Muttu Naikar, a senior journalist from neighbouring Halkurki village.

“It was supposed to be planned as part of the gauge conversion project, which was finished in 2013. During his second term as chief minister, Badami MLA Siddaramaiah wrote a letter to HD Kumaraswamy, but no progress has been seen in this regard,” he rued.

The gate number 34 has been a important obstruction to Badami’s development, as per Prof Shivaraddi Vasan, president, Nisarga Balaga Parisara Vedike, Badami.

To quote him, “For years, we have been writing letters to the railway minister. We were made to believe that funds had been approved and a tender had been issued in March 2019, but there is no progress in work. Despite the fact that Badami is close to the world heritage site Pattadkal, SWR was running express trains without stopping here. The construction of the ROB has been postponed due to a lack of communication between the state government and the railway department.”

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