The Uppinangady-Kalleri road repair project in Dakshina Kannada faces a funding standoff after Belthangady MLA Harish Poonja said he would stage a solo protest in front of the Vidhana Soudha if the Karnataka government does not release funds by November 30.
Poonja said he had submitted nine requests to the state government for financial support to repair the road, but had received assurances without a release of funds. He made the statement at a protest meeting in Kalleri organised by Bharatiya Janata Party workers from the Elanthila, Thanneerupantha, Barya, Thekkaru and Kaniyur gram panchayat areas of Belthangady taluk.
The protest programme included a padayatra from Karaya to Kalleri before the meeting. The road is a local connectivity route linking settlements in the region, and its proposed repair has become the focus of a wider dispute over the allocation of public funds for rural infrastructure.
According to a report by Prajavani – Dakshina Kannada, Poonja said the previous BJP-led state government had brought ₹3,500 crore in funding to the constituency. He claimed that the funding was used to build roads and more than 85 check dams, and to construct houses for more than 2,000 people.
Those claims were made as part of a broader criticism of the Congress government’s performance. Poonja alleged that the government had not provided a single house or constructed a single vented dam in the constituency. He also alleged that old-age, widow and disability pensions had been stopped, and criticised changes affecting milk prices and dairy products. These statements were made at the political meeting and were not independently established in the report.
BJP district general secretary Yathish Araviru said the Kuppetti-Uppinangady road reflected the manner in which the state government was functioning. He also questioned claims by the Puttur MLA that works worth ₹2,800 crore had been completed through the current government, asking that details of those works be made public.
The report did not provide the estimated cost of the Uppinangady-Kalleri road repair, the length of the road, the agency responsible for its maintenance or the stage reached in the government’s funding process. It also did not include a response from the state government or the concerned public works authorities to the MLA’s allegations.
Poonja’s stated next step is to hold a solo protest in front of the Vidhana Soudha if funds are not provided by November 30. The funding decision and any official response from the state government will determine whether the road repair issue moves from a local political demand to an approved infrastructure work.
