Udupi: The long-awaited Malpe-Padukere bridge was inaugurated by minister for fisheries, and sports and youth service Pramod Madhwaraj on Saturday.

Addressing the gathering, minister Pramod said, "I feel fortunate to inaugurate the bridge. Now Padukere villagers will get relief from crossing the sea by boats. I thank BJP leader, the late Dr V S Acharya who was a minister from here, and former Udupi MLA Raghupati Bhat also. The foundation stone for the bridge was laid on August 29, 2013.

"In May 2013, I became MLA for Udupi and got to work on this bridge, but the government did not allot funds under the Nagarothana in the first budget. I raised a question regarding this with the government. Within a short time, CM Siddaramaiah announced Rs 1,000 crore for various development works, because of which the work on the bridge construction gathered speed. We plan to develop Padukere beach into one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, considering that Malpe is a tourist place. I will hold a meeting with deputy commissioner soon to discuss about Padukere beach development."

He also proposed three government buses for Malpe-Padukere and said that they would be launched shortly. He also said that a new modern bus stand will come up at Malpe soon.

Meenakshi Madhav Bannanje, president, CMC Udupi, Sandhya Tilakraj, vice-president, CMC, Prashant Amin, councillor, Kola ward, Vijay Kundar, councillor, Malpe central ward, Satish Amin Padukere, president, Malpe-Padukere bridge in-charge committee, Narasimha Murthy, president, town planning authority, Janardhan Thonse, zilla panchayat member, Ganesh Nergi, nominated member for CMC, Shobha Kakkunje, Anand C Kundar, proprietor, Geethanand Foundation, Jagadish Bolur, managing director, Yojaka India Pvt Ltd, Mangaluru and others were present.