Mandya: With the ambitious Mysuru-Bengaluru 10-lane Expressway project nearing completion, Congress MLCs from Mandya — Madhu G. Madegowda and Dinesh Gooligowda — have urged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to name the Expressway after Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar.

The MLCs, apart from submitting a memorandum to the CM,  have also appealed PWD Minister C.C. Patil, Mandya District In-charge Minister K. Gopalaiah, Minister for Sports and Sericulture K.C. Narayanagowda, who hails from Mandya district and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, in this regard.

Highlighting the contributions of erstwhile Mysore ruler Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, who built the famed KRS Dam, established the State’s first Sugar factory MySugar in Mandya, constructed K.R. Hospital  and set up Sandalwood Oil Factory in Mysuru, established a Steel Plant at Bhadravati and many other projects, they maintained that it would be a befitting tribute to Nalwadi if the Expressway is named after him.

Madhu Madegowda and Dinesh Gooligowda further said that Ministers Gopalaiah and Narayanagowda have assured to talk to the CM on sending a proposal to the Union Minister in this regard. The CM too, after receiving their memorandum,  has responded positively for the naming of the Expressway after Nalwadi, they added.

It may be mentioned that Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha had earlier demanded naming of the Expressway as ‘Cauvery Expressway’ on the lines of Yamuna Expressway and Ganga Expressway in UP and Narmada Expressway in Madhya Pradesh, as River Cauvery is the lifeline for crores of people of old Mysuru region.