Mangaluru: A total of 11 check-dams will be set up in the Dakshina Kannada district under the Pashchima Vahini project and the government has already released Rs 265.25 crore for this purpose. The tender process for this project is now in the final stages, informed Dakshina Kannada district in-charge Minister U T Khader on Saturday, January 26.

He was addressing the gathering after receiving the guard of honour during the district-level Republic Day celebration at Nehru Maidan. “In order to help school-going children access their schools safely, a total of 221 footbridges will be constructed at the cost of Rs 30 crore at different places in the district. A tender has been floated to construct 80 footbridges in the first phase of this project,” he informed.

Meanwhile, on the occasion, six government officials- Sundar Poojary, Mahesh Kumar, K N Sudhakar, Babu Naik, Prakash Shetty and Harini P were felicitated with the ‘Sarvotham’ award for their sincere and selfless service. KSRTC bus drivers with accident-free records- Sathish, Ganapathi Kottary, Ishwar, Duggappa Naik Chandrashekhar and Ganesh Shetty were presented with silver medals on the same occasion.

Personnel from the police, fire, home guard and coast guard departments- Manjunath, Ganesh, T S Shivashankar, Abdul Gafoor and N T Pradeep were also felicitated for their sincere service during the rescue operations in the flood-hit regions of the Kodagu district.

A total of 15 teams, including civil and traffic police, home guard and NCC among others, participated in the parade. Bharath Sevadal team of Government Highschool Moodushedde bagged the first place and Road Safety Patrol team of Girls secured the second place in the parade. They received a rolling shield after the programme.

The annual vintage and classic car show and rally was also held as part of the celebrations in which several vintage cars and motor-bikes participated. After the programme, over 1000 students from Sharada Vidyalaya, Canara High School and Amrutha Vidyalaya performed cultural programmes to entertain the audience.