Though Mangaluru is endowed with not one, but two rivers — Netravathi and Phalguni (Gurupura) — many Mangalureans themselves do not visit their banks often. At the same time, residents frequently complain about the lack of socialising places in the city, with the beaches for which Mangaluru is famous being slightly away.
The primary reason for people remaining aloof from the rivers has been the lack of access to riverfronts — no proper connecting roads, no ghats and so on. The ferry service that could have connected these rivers with people, too has vanished with the construction of bridges for vehicular movement.
Mangaluru, compared to other similarly situated regions in coastal Karnataka, has not been able to attract tourists either by showcasing its rich waterfronts for lack of any development.
