Residents want 100-yr-old ‘Usable’ Mallikatta Side Road Paved ASAP!
Residents want 100-yr-old ‘Usable’ Mallikatta Side Road in between Bellissima apartments and Malikatta Library/Park Paved As Soon As Possible!
Mangaluru: If the Mangaluru City Corporation has funds and priority to asphalt or interlock some of the streets/lanes in the City which are not so important, then why can’t it restore and asphalt/pave a 6.25 mt “Free Left Turn’ road starting from Kadri Road and going towards St Agnes-Bendore (and located in between newly constructed Bellissima Apartments and Mallikatta Library/Park- a road very much used by motorists and commuters regularly. It is learned that in 2015, MCC had planned to close down this stretch of road for motorists and the general public, with the pretext of beautifying Mallikatta junction-but at the same time the plan was illegally depriving the public their existing ‘Right of Way’, and also this road being more than 100 years old. I bet if the ward corporator or an MLA/MLC or any district official for that matter, took this side road frequently, then this road would have fixed long back?
Earlier the MCC and other district authorities wanted this stretch of the road kept open only for the sole use of residents of Bellissima Apartments and not to be used by the public. The opening of this road starts from the Kadri Road, by the side of the said apartment, and ends t the rear end of the said apartment touching ‘Alkananda Bunglow’ on Mallikatta -Agnes Road. The local residents along with the public felt that this was a gross violation of legitimate rights, and therefore protested against the proposed plan by the MCC, and submitted a memorandum to the DC, MCC Commissioner and other concerned authorities to stop closing of this road. (More details in the scanned document published below)
Due to the protest by the residents the plan didn’t materialized, but during the concrete work of the newly constructed Mallikatta- St Agnes Road, this side road got severely beaten due to the constant moving of earth movers and other roadwork machinery. Once again when the residents requested the MCC to restore the broken road due to construction work, back to its original condition, the MCC only did a patch up and incomplete work-leaving this road still in bad shape. Having fed up with the inconvenience caused by traveling on this side road, the residents want to take up the issue again with the MCC and see that the road is asphalted/paved properly.
Speaking to Team Mangalorean, Praveenchandra Shetty, a resident of that area said, ” When this road was in bad condition, I along with other residents and public raised our voices to fix this dilapidated road. Even though the concerned authorities agreed to fix the road, but they didn’t do it right. The road is still in bad condition, and with so many vehicles using this road since it provides a little short cut going towards St Agnes from Kadri Road, instead of taking a left turn near the Mallikatta Circle.
Many buses also use this ‘Free Left Turn’ road. Our many requests to MCC officials, ward corporator to fix this road is all in vain. We urge MCC and other concerned authorities to take immediate action in restoring this stretch of road to its original condition, and if they fail to do so, we will intensify our protest by staging a dharna in front of this road in the nearest future. Praveenchandra Shetty was also joined by activist Gerard Towers, who has also taken a lead in this issue.
