MYSURU: Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha has urged Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to name the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway as ‘Cauvery Expressway’ on the lines of Yamuna Expressway and Ganga Expressway (in Uttar Pradesh) and Narmada Expressway (in Madhya Pradesh).
The 119-km ten-lane Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway is expected to bring down the travel time between the two cities to just 90 minutes. Simha on Wednesday met Gadkari and submitted a memorandum to consider naming the expressway after the Cauvery keeping in mind the emotion of the people of the region towards the river.
“Known to devout Hindus as Dakshina Ganga, the Cauvery river is celebrated for its serenity and sanctity and its entire course of 765 km in states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is considered holy ground.
Cauvery river is also important for its irrigation canal projects. Major citizens, including historians, have urged me to impress upon the government to name it as ‘Cauvery Expressway’ in reverence to one of the holiest rivers in the country which rises on Brahmagiri hills of the Western Ghats in the district of Kodagu, a part of my constituency,” Simha stated in the letter to the Union Minister.