Pics: Spoorthi Ullal

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Aug 5: A meeting held on Friday August 4 to find an amicable solution to the dispute arising out of the road renaming controversy, after the government issued orders to name the Light House HIl Road between Catholic Club and Ambedkar Circle road as Mulky Sunder Ram Shetty Road, failed to break the deadlock. The meeting which was held in the office of the deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district, was presided over by district in-charge minster, B Ramanath Rai.

As such, the district administrate announced that a four-member fact-finding panel is being formed to resolve the issue.

The state government had issued temporary stay against its earlier order on renaming of the road, after St Aloysius group of educational institutions objected to the initiative undertaken to rename this road, as it said that this road was already known with the name, St Aloysius College Road. Thereafter, D K Union of Muslim Organizations had demanded to name this road as Idgah Mosque Road, while certain organization had demanded it to be identified as Bavutagudde Road.

On behalf of Vijaya Bank Workers Organization, Aloysius group of institutions, D K Union of Muslim Organizations and Amarasullia Freedom Fighters Committee presented arguments and documents in favour of their respective demands. All of them wanted their demands to be upheld. Thereafter, district deputy commissioner, Dr K J Jagadeesha, announced that the administration would be forming a committee to verify all the documents and practical points towards finding a lasting solution to the issue and to submit a report on the findings to the district administration.

Rector of St Aloysius institutions, Fr Dionysius Vaz, registrar, Prof Narahari and N G Mohan representing Old Students Association, said that this road was named as St Aloysius College Road in 1976 itself and stressed that there are documents to prove this point.

Mulky Karunakara Shetty, who spoke on behalf of Vijaya Bank Workers Organization, and Rajagopal Rai and Hanumanth Kamath, speaking on behalf of Mulky Sunder Ram Shetty Fans Club, insisted that this road was known as LHH Road in the past and that it was never known as Aloysius College Road. They pointed out that the government had fulfilled all legal formalities before giving its consent to name this road after Mulky Sunder Ram Shetty.

Former city mayor, K Ashraf, who spoke on behalf of D K Union of Muslim Organizations, pointed out that Idgah mosque is located on this road since long and as such repeated his earlier plea to rename this road as Idgah Masjid Road. President of Amarasulia Freedom Committee, N S Deviprasad Sampaje and Gopal Peraje, demanded to retain the name of th road as Bavutagudde Road, which commemorates mutiny in 1837 against the British Rule and the flag that had been hoisted at this hill as a symbol of defeating the Brithsh.

B Ramanath Rai sought cooperation from everyone to find an amicable solution to the issue. He asked the city corporation to handle such issues very carefully whenever they arise in future. He also asked people not to take naming of the road as a right but just as an opportunity provided by the government. MLA, J R Lobo, wanted the issue to be sorted out in an environment of peace and understanding without giving rise to friction. He said that temporary stay was brought to find an unanimous solution to the problem.

The committee stated above will have registrar of Mangaluru University, city corporation commissioner, additional deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district, and professor of history department of Mangaluru University as its members, the deputy commissioner announced. 

City mayor, Kavita Sanil, and commissioner, Muhammed Nazeer, were present.