Mangaluru: Residents and heads of the educational institutions of Kulshekar to Gurupur Kaikamba held a press meet at the Press club, Urva here on March 8.
Addressing the mediapersons advocate Mariamma Thomas said that the owners who are victims of the land acquisition for the NH held a meeting on March 6, at the Sacred Heart School premises. More than 100 land owners were present and gave their opinion on the land acquisition. As soon as the NH authorities marked the land for the National Highway we met the concerned authorities, we have submitted a memorandum to the DC, ministers, corporators and all the concerned authorities. MLA J R Lobo filed an objection in regard to the survey, he met the Assistant Commissioner for Land Acquisition Dr Ashok and demanded to do the survey again. We the residents of Kulshekar have also met Dr Ashok and have submitted a memorandum. We also explained that houses of more than 250 families will be affected. Dr Ashok assured us to do justice after visiting the spot and said that we have done the survey tentatively and this is not the final survey. We will make necessary changes in regard to the survey.
The National Highways Authority of India has proposed to widen the National Highway 169(NH 13) between Mangaluru – Moodbidri – Karkala. The Feed Back Infra has prepared the alignment report and the competent authority of land acquisition said that there is no objection from any of the residents and sent the report to the NHAI, which the residents of area opposed. Recently we came to know that the National Highway authority of India has issued a 3A notification.
Mariamma Thomas also said that the NH authorities have done the survey on one side, instead the authorities should use the government land for the road. Since there is sufficient government land, they should utilize it and not trouble the residents.
When asked about 250 houses being affected, Mariamma said that during the survey the LA authorities did not measure the road from the centre. They have taken the side of the road and marked the houses. In Rosa Mistica the entire play ground will be acquired. Rosa Mistica will lose more than 2.5 acres of land if the NH acquire their land. She also said that from Mangaluru to Moodbidri there will be a 4 lane road and from Moodbidri to Karkala a two lane road. We urge the authorities to survey the road by taking all the residents to confidence. We are not against the road widening. For the development of the city we need good road approach and we welcome the move of the government. But when there is a government land, the authorities should use the government land for the road widening purpose. If the government compensates the families they will not be able to build houses again. If the 3A notification will not be changed within 15 days, we will call for a ‘Rasta Roko’ in the coming days. The Rasta Roko will go on in various phases, said Mariamma.
She further said that to utilize government funds, NHAI is trying to construct the four lane road by demolishing 250 houses. They have not even thought of the difficulties the 250 families will have to go through, where will they all go, where they will stay? There should be uniformity in National Highways and it should be limited to 30 mtrs and not 45 mtrs. The authorities should call for a meeting within 15 days, if the authorities fail to call for a meeting within 15 days we will block the roads in the coming days, she warned.
K Prakashchandra Shetty, Prasad, Kiran Castelino, Sr Mariella, Venkatramana Bhat and others were also present.
Many years ago when the octroi system existed, Highways used to pass through the cities so that the city corporations could garner some revenue. Nowadays these things are abolished. At many places such as sakleshpur, Hubli Dharwad, channarayapatna, Navalgund etc. , the NHAI has constructed bypass roads, but it is unfortunate that in a major city like mangalore all the trucks pass through the city with their hazardous cargo and the elected representatives (including the previous Highways minister) have no long term vision. A bypass road that connects the Industrial zone of panambur to the the major highways is the only solution.