Unicaus NEWS
MLC Ivan D’Souza said the idea of the Mahakalipadpu twin Railway Underbridge was conceived by him and Speaker U.T. Khader when they were government Chief Whip in the Legislative Council and District In-charge Minister, respectively, during his site inspection in Mangaluru on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH
MLC Ivan D’Souza said the Mahakalipadpu twin Railway Underbridge at Mahakalipadpu will be inaugurated on January 25 by Ministers Byrathi Suresh, Dinesh Gundu Rao, and Speaker U.T. Khader during his site inspection in Mangaluru on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH
Urban Development Minister Byrathi S. Suresh, District In-charge Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, and Legislative Assembly Speaker U.T. Khader would inaugurate the twin RuBs on Sunday, January 25, Mr. D’Souza told reporters during his inspection of the site. “The twin RuBs would be the Republic Day gift of the government to the residents of Mangaluru and surrounding areas,” the MLC added.
“We (Mr. D’Souza and Mr. Khader) were concerned about the plight of thousands of road users moving towards Ullal, the surrounding areas (Mr. Khader’s constituency), and Kerala while negotiating the Mahakalipadpu Railway Level Crossing that used to be closed frequently. Thus was born the idea of the RuBs,” he said. When Mangaluru Smart City Ltd. (MSCL) took up the project under the deposit scheme with the Railways, it deposited ₹30 crore with Southern Railway for the RuB structure while spending about ₹20 crore for the four-lane road, he said.
Stating that he was regularly following up on the construction progress, Mr. D’Souza said road users from Southern Mangaluru would save time and fuel in taking a detour (about 9 km) via Pumpwell to enter and leave the city.
MLC Ivan D’Souza interacts with Mangaluru Smart City Ltd. officials during his site inspection of the twin Railway Underbridge site at Mahakalipadpu in Mangaluru, on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH
MPLAD funds
The then Dakshina Kannada Member of Parliament, Nalin Kumar Kateel, had provided ₹19.87 crore from his MP Local Area Development Fund for the Project. MSCL had paid the deposit of ₹30.7 crore to the Railways.
Mr. Kateel and Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyasa Kamath had laid the foundation stone for the project in 2021, when BJP’s B.S. Yediyurappa was the Chief Minister. Though the MP had announced the project would be completed within 12 months, its completion dragged on for years.
The actual work on the RuBs began in December 2022 after the district administration gave an undertaking to the Railways that it would allow the latter to close down the existing level crossing gage once the RuBs were commissioned.
Published – January 20, 2026 07:40 pm IST
