Manganese ore-laden lorry denied entry into Udupi

Udupi, Karnataka, Aug 3 (UNI) The meeting, convened today to discuss clearance of stranded manganese ore laden lorries at Ottinene from Shiroor, the northern border of Udupi district, has decided not to allow any manganese ore lorry to enter the district until the damaged national highway was upgraded and the removed weigh bridge was re-installed.

The over two hour heated debate on the issue, chaired by district incharge Minister Dr V S Acharya, was attended by MLAs K Raghupathy Bhat and K Jayaprakash Hegde, President and members of Udupi Zilla Panchayat, the Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of Police, lorry owners, drivers and Udupi District Consumer Forum representatives.

Hearing the views from all quarters, Dr Acharya said the Deputy Commissioner, after consulting with the police, Regional Transport Office and PWD officials, would decide on one time clearance of over 900 lorries stranded since Sunday last.

He clarified that the apolitical decision to stop the entry of overloaded manganese lorries into the district was taken at the KDP meeting, held on Thursday last, based on a confidential report received by him from the National Highway authorities about the severe damages caused to six major bridges and national highways due to movement of overloaded manganese lorries.

Deputy Commissioner V Ponnaraju, who also spoke, said the mine owner's association had assured to re-install the removed weigh bridge within a week and the lorry owners could hold discussions with them to speed up the work.

At one stage, Dr Acharya became agitated over the bribery allegation levelled against him and Mr Bhat by some lorry owners and Byndoor Congress MLA Gopal Poojary and said he would retire from public life if evidence was produced against him.

Lorry Owners Association State President Shanmugappa admitted that the lorries were overloaded with manganese ore and assured not to do so in future. He appealed to the authorities to allow unloading of the stranded lorries as otherwise, the lorry owners would have to pay a penalty of Rs 25,000.

UNI MA GD TS1926