Minister’s midnight highway inspection raises queries

By CT reporter
MANGALORE : The recent midnight inspection of the sorry state of highways by the district in-charge minister Nagaraj Shetty along with deputy commissioner Maheshwar Rao, that too in a hush hush manner, somehow had reached the newspapers.
It is not known why the minister chose a midnight inspection of the highways. The general opinoon may be that the minister had resorted to such a step unable to face the public if at all he made a day time inspection.
Shetty ought to admit the fact that he is unable to face the public. The reason being that he who at first issued a 72 hour deadline to repair the roads , however did not bother much when his orders went unheeded, however chose a highwy inspection when his own party legislators in Mangalore and Suratkal made a demand for highway repair.
What has now been construed is that the minister who is moving heaven and earth to prove that the highway repair was the sole responsibility of the union government ,did not prefer a day time inspection. If at all the inspection was done during day time, then the minister might have feared that people may learn that even the state government had a responsibilty of highway management.
If the state government had no responsbiilty in this regard, then the need for Shetty to inspect the highway along with the DC would not have arisen. Then how did the minister issue a 72 -hour dead line to the officials to repair the highways at the KDP meeting recently ?.
Why did the deputy chief minister BS Yadiyurappa during hsi recent visit to the city say that funds would be released for highway repair immediately and that the funds would be adjusted in the central grants to the state government ?.
The fact however remains that both the state as well as the union governments have the responsibility of maintaining the highways with neither the Congress government at the Centre nor the BJP-JD(S) government in the state ready to admit the same.
While the Congress stages protest against the bad highways one day, the BJP follows suit another day and all this is nothing but petty politics.
The politicians can feel the heat only when the public take up cudgels and gherao the legislators and ministers whenever they appear in public. May be such a step may prevent the political leaders from shying away from their responsibilities.