MYSURU: Chief minister HD Kumaraswamy , who took oath in front of the Vidhana Soudha under the etching ‘Government’s work is God’s work’, seems to prioritise visits to Gods’ abodes to seek blessings for himself and his family even if it means severely inconveniencing the people he’s meant to serve.The CM and his family went on a temple-visiting spree in rain-battered Dakshina Kannada district for two days starting Monday, at the beginning of the auspicious Shravana masa, even as the locals and travellers grappled with submerged roads, blackouts and poor connectivity.The CM neither inspected rain-hit areas in the region nor held review meetings with officials, though there were widespread reports of floods and landslips. Besides, the presence of a CM and a former PM would have been a distraction to the local administration which was battling a floodlike situation in the region.To make matters worse, on Tuesday, the Dakshina Kannada and Chikkamagaluru district police stalled traffic for about six hours for the CM’s entourage at Charmadi Ghat , one of the busiest and most accident-prone stretches that connects Belthangady and Mudigere. The road is the only access to the area as the more popular Shiradi Ghat has been shut due to rain damage.After weeks of relentless rain in coastal Karnataka and Malnad region, CM HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday finally declared high alert in five rain-hit districts of Kodagu, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga and asked officials to be on their toes to combat any untoward situation. P 4Police blocked the traffic an hour before the CM’s convoy reached the ghat near Kottigehara and Banakal towns, the entry points of Charmadi ghat. Commuters were told that vehicles were being stopped due to massive landslides on the stretch. The situation turned chaotic after the cavalcade crossed the ghat as it took nearly two hours for the traffic flow to get back to normal, inconveniencing commuters.“Even state-run KSRTC buses and long-distance travellers, including women and children, had to wait for nearly six hours. Putting residents to such hardship is unwanted and uncalled for. The CM could have avoided this if he was really concerned about the people,” said Vignesh Babu, a passenger who was travelling from Shivamogga to Mangaluru. “There were long queues of vehicles extending up 2km on both sides of the road.”Though the travellers who faced hardship claimed they were stranded between 12.30pm and 6.30pm, the cops maintained that they had blocked the road only between 4pm and 6pm, keeping the safety of travellers in mind.Kumarswamy, accompanied by wife Anita and father and former PM HD Deve Gowda and mother Chenamma, visited Dharmasthala on Monday amid heavy rains. The following day, the family visited Kukke Subramanya temple to perform Ashlesha Bali Pooja, which is conducted on Ashlesha Nakshatra days as it is believed to ward off evil and yield good results.

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