Mangalore: Ambitious Plan of Widening Car Street Begins
Pics: Sphoorty Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Dec 5: End appears to be in sight for the nightmares of the citizens and the vehicles, who have been finding it a daunting task to negotiate the congested Car Street in the city. After protracted delays, stay orders, litigations and lack of political will running into decades, Car street promises to provide a pleasant experience soon.

Thanks to Dakshina Kannada district deputy commissioner, V Ponnuraj, who has been on a drive to develop the city roads, there has been a flurry of activities in the city streets. Following on his earlier action of demolishing encroached buildings, shops etc., and taking up the widening of the road from Jyoti Circle to Bunts Hostel by annexing some land of a theatre at the Circle, he had promised to transform Car Street in the heart of city into a 50 feet wide road with five feet footpaths on both the sides.

During his recent visit to Car Street, he talked to the people and was able to get the consent of the people for road widening. He accommodated a few roadside vegetable vendors inside the flower market in Car Street. While removing the smaller structures that dot the Car Street, most of which are over 50 years old, is not a problem, a handful of multi-storied concrete buildings that have come up recently, need to be partially demolished, without damaging the remaining portion, entailing construction of pillars to support the remaining frames. A few buildings are set to lose their vehicle parking spaces in the bargain.

In the early morning on Saturday December 5, the demolition drive was undertaken with the help of backhoes and several workers. The work started from the government girls’ high school. Many roadside petty shops were removed by the workers. Local MLA, Yogish Bhat, who is happy to see Car Street widening work taking shape after so many years, said that the people of the area have been cooperating with the road widening work, as they see that it is also to their advantage. Bhat and several Corporation officials have been accompanying the teams of workers engaged in the demolition work, to oversee and guide them.

Once widened, Car Street promises to grow into an alternative road to K S Rao Road, which always bustles with traffic. For vehicles coming from Central Market and Bunder areas in the city, Car Street, Chitra Talkies, Mannagudda and Lady Hill route offers a far better viable alternative, provided it is ensured that vehicles are forbidden from parking on the road.