Karnataka: Centre approves preparation for DPR highway projects in Dakshina Kannada
Mangaluru (Karnataka) (PTI): The Centre has approved the preparation of DPRs for several key highway projects in Dakshina Kannada, BJP MP Captain Brijesh Chowta said on Thursday.
The approval includes widening of the Surathkal-BC Road stretch via the Mangaluru Bypass and the construction of service roads along NH-66 from Talapady to Kundapur.
According to Captain Chowta, who represents Dakshina Kannada, the approval marks the first major step towards strengthening road infrastructure along the coastal belt, addressing long-pending demands related to traffic congestion, port connectivity and road safety.
The highways serve as major entry corridors to Mangaluru city and are critical for daily passenger movement as well as the transportation of goods to and from the New Mangalore Port. However, the absence of service roads and capacity limitations have led to severe congestion and safety concerns, Chowta said in a release.
Following continuous representations, Chowta pursued the matter with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
During the 2024 Monsoon Session of Parliament, he met senior ministry officials to highlight the need for service roads on NH-66. The issue was also raised during the DISHA committee meeting in Mangaluru in September 2024.
With the Detailed Project Report approval, consultants have been formally instructed to begin work, the release said.
The DPR will assess road alignment, service roads, grade-separated junctions, traffic capacity enhancement, safety measures and long-term traffic management, it added.
Welcoming the approval, Chowta said the move would provide the technical and administrative foundation required for execution of the projects.
He thanked Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and NHAI officials for responding to the region's infrastructure needs.
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Unnao rape: Survivor moves Delhi HC to place more material in Kuldeep Sengar's appeal
New Delhi (PTI): The Unnao rape survivor on Thursday moved the Delhi High Court to bring on record more material in Kuldeep Sengar's appeal against his conviction in the case.
In her application filed in the expelled BJP leader's appeal, she said she wanted to place before the court facts and documents to show "relevant recent developments" as well as the threat to herself and her family.
Her plea also sought a direction to further record evidence of two officials from her school in Unnao to certify her date of birth. She alleged that Sengar influenced the investigation and used forged and false documents about her age in the trial, which were now also being relied upon in appeal.
A bench of justices Prathiba M Singh and Madhu Jain observed that the appeal was already at the stage of final hearing and listed the survivor's application for consideration on February 25.
It asked the survivor's counsel to file the relevant documents along with her application by January 31 and told Sengar and the CBI to file their replies to the plea.
The application follows the high court's December 23, 2025, order suspending Sengar's life imprisonment, saying that he had already undergone seven years and five months under incarceration.
The suspension order was passed by a bench of justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, which was stayed by the Supreme Court on December 29, 2025.
Sengar's sentence was suspended by the high court till the pendency of his appeal challenging his conviction and sentence in the rape case. He has challenged a December 2019 trial court verdict in the rape case.
Sengar kidnapped the minor and raped her in 2017.
Sengar is also serving 10 years imprisonment in the custodial death case of the victim's father and has not been granted bail in that case.
The rape case and other connected cases were transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2019.
