VIZAGAPATAM.
and Vizianagram meet. Ten miles furtlier on, at Kagalaméda, the ascent began, and ran up five miles to Damuku, the first shelf on the ghát, 2,000 feet above the sea. There the road entered the Ráyavalasa valley and proceeded by an easier ascent two miles to that village. From thence a sharp ascent led to Anantagiri, about 3,000 feet above the sea and four miles from Damuku. There an excellent bungalow, still standing, was built. From thence Mr. Turner worked out, and marked on the ground, a trace running along the stream to Dumariguda saddle; then up to Bispur saddle, the highest point, 3,650 feet; round the hill to the left, on a down grade; through a gorge, and so to the saddle above Baliaguda hamlet; below the cliffs of Grant's range, across the valley, to Karabolu; and thence to the west, out into the Aruku plains, near Madagada.1[1] Up to 31st March 1887, Rs. 67,000 had been spent on the work, and carts could get to Anantagiri. The estimate for its completion was Rs. 86,000 more. In 1888, however, in spite of Mr. Turner's most earnest pleadings, Government declined 2[2] to allow any more money to be spent on this road, averring that it led only 'to a bare and sparsely populated plateau and will apparently be of little use except as a second alternative to the Sálúr-Pottangi road to Jeypore.'
Since then nothing has been done to carry on the road, and the only route across the range is an old bullock-track over Gálikonda. Even so, the traffic appears to be very considerable, as the returns show that over 800 carts a day travel from Bodára to Vizianagram and Vizagapatam. In 1892 Mr. Willock, then Agent, revived the proposal, pointing out 3[3] that the worst part of the ghát had already been done, that only 9½ miles remained to be completed, that the country to be tapped was very rich, and that the Pottangi-Koraput road was almost useless to it as hills and the troublesome Koláb river intervened. He considered that for Rs. 25,000 the track could be opened for cart traffic and that it could be made a really first-class road for an additional Rs 50,000. Government directed the Public Works department to furnish an approximate estimate of the cost of completing the work and the reply was that Rs. 42,000 would suffice; but funds were again refused. In 1807 Mr. Horne, and in 1902 Mr. Ayling, added other arguments 4[4] to those adduced by their predecessors,
- ↑ 1 See p. 3 of G.O., No. 1970, Judicial, dated 15th September 1888.
- ↑ 2 G.Os., No. 475, Financial, dated 12th April 1887 and No. 1541, Judicial, dated 20th July 1888.
- ↑ 3 See G.O., No. 1027, Financial, dated 3rd October 1892.
- ↑ 4 G.Os., Nos. 1308, Judicial, dated 8th September 1897; 1156, Judicial, dated 22nd July 1898; and 1386, Judicial, dated 12th September 1902.
