Udupi: Petty Shops in Manipal Mowed Down Without Notice, Locals Protest

Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (VM)

Udupi, Nov 9: In a sudden move, the city municipality demolished as many as 9 petty shops for the construction of a bus bay near Eshwarnagar in Manipal on Thursday November 8.

The shops were owned by Chandrashekar, Suleiman, Jaya Poojary, Vittu Nayak, Krishna, Surendra, Muralidar, Annayya, Umesh and Mukunda Nayak.

The operation was led by two engineers who visited the spot with a JCB at around 9 am. As soon as the demolition task began, Congress leaders along with the locals protested, shouting slogans against the municipality.

"Vacating the shops without prior notice is against the rules. Discussions have already been made regarding this in the general meeting of municipality," said Jayanand Malpe, opposition party leader.

"Our demand is to provide an alternative option for shopkeepers. Earlier when petty shops near Santhekatte-Kallianpur were demolished during the tenure of former deputy commissioner Ponnuraj, he had implemented alternative measures," the leader added.

Trader Woes

Speaking to Daijiworld, one of the traders named Mukunda Nayak said that he has been selling tea and snacks for the past 25 years. "The license of the shop is still valid for 4 months and per year I pay Rs 1,483 as a tax to the municipality," he said.

"I bought new stock for the shop two days back and now the municipality has destroyed my shop without giving any prior notice," he said.

Engineer Subramanya told Daijiworld, "As per the orders of the municipality, we have come here to remove 8 petty shops for the construction of bus bay but due to the interference of the locals the work has stopped."

Shopkeepers are worried about their future as no alternative measures have been provided. The municipality seems to be thinking only in terms of development, said another shopkeeper.