Mangaluru (The Hindu) Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister of State for Fisheries, Youth Services and Sports, laid the foundation stone for the first phase widening (four-laning) of the two-lane Manipal-Ambagilu Road here on Friday.

Speaking to presspersons, Mr. Madhwaraj said that in the first phase, the 1.2-km Manipal-Ambagilu Road would be widened. The cost had been estimated at Rs. 4.4 crore.

The widening of this major district road had become essential as it provided better connectivity to people from Kundapur taluk coming to the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

The road would be 14 metres wide, with its right and left sides of seven metres width with a divider in between. The widening of this road is expected to be completed by January, 2017.

Except for a small piece of land which belonged to a mutt, there were no problems of land acquisition on this road. Hence, its widening was not expected to pose any problem.

The officers of the departments of Public Works and Ports and Inland Waterways, which was executing the work, had been directed to hold talks with the concerned mutt, so that there were no obstacles, Mr. Madhwaraj said.

Later, distributing books and other educational accessories to the students of Mahatma Gandhi Model Higher Primary School here, Mr. Madhwaraj said that the responsibility of saving government school lay not only with the government but also with the society.

Meenakshi Bannanje, president, Udupi City Municipal Council; Sandhya Tilakraj, vice-president; Prashanth Bhat, Ramesh Kanchan, S.P. Kudva, Celine Karkada, and Janardhan Bhandarkar, municipal councillors; and Shambhu Suvarna, headmaster, were present.