MYSURU: People travelling to Kodagu and Kerala from Mysuru had a weekend of ordeal as road connectivity around ghat sections was snapped following incessant rain. Those bound for Kerala were stranded in the city.
Mohammed Akeif employed with a pharmaceutical company had to cancel his trip to Kannur because of the situation. “I was supposed to be at home with my mother for Eid, but my family was worried about me travelling in rain so I had to cancel my trip,” said Akeif.The roads leading to Kerala are the most affected as Maakkutam area and ghat sections were flooded and Thamarassery ghat pass, another major route frequented by people from Mysuru, has become inaccessible as two bends in the section were damaged in the rain.
The situation forced the Karnataka Road Transport Corporation to cancel 11 services to Kannur in Kerala and 20 services to Kozhikode.Currently, the corporation is operating services only till motorable areas in Kalpetta and Sulthan Bathery from Mysuru.
Authorities at the Mysuru bus stand said the services will remain cancelled until the routes are cleared.
The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation is, however, running services to Kerala through Hunsur, Nagarhole, Mananthavady, Thottilpalam route, but the Corporation has cancelled their Volvo and Scania luxury bus services as large body buses will not be able to traverse the alternate route which is narrow. People who took their cars out had to take long detours to avoid the situation.
“We heard from a friend that vehicles are allowed through a diversion at Gonikoppal, so we decided to take out our car but when we reached Thithimathi we had to go through mud filled roads and narrow stretches, the sight of overflowing rivers were also scary. The rest of the areas were also dangerous to travel, “ said Vaishakh who is working with a retail major in Mysuru.
Many travellers who took the Wayand-Thamaraserry route unknowingly were stranded for hours before being diverted back to safe places.“We heard that there were issues on the road because of rain but we thought it would have been cleared, but the condition is really bad there, we had to turn back and take almost 100 km detour to Gundlupet, then proceed via Bandipur to go to Kerala,” said Asif, a restaurant owner.