Now a panel to rename Mangaluru road

Mangaluru: In a novel move, a fact finding expert committee has been formed  to help the government  name a 900 metre road on Light House Hill in Mangaluru city.

Although the government has approved  the Mangaluru City Corporation’s decision to rename the Light House Hill Road as the Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty Road, the  St Aloysius College has objected, claiming it is already named after it. 

With the controversy snowballing,  MLA J R Lobo intervened and the state government put off naming the road.

 On Friday a  meeting was called to discuss the issue by district in-charge Minister Ramanath Rai. 

But with the two groups involved failing to come to an understanding, it was decided to set up a fact finding expert committee to see which of them has greater claim to the road. 

The move , has , however, invited public ridicule.  

“This is an issue which can be resolved within a day. The city corporation has all the documents related to naming and renaming of  roads. Do we really need a fact finding committee with such big officials on board to look into this?” asked Nagarika Hitharakshana Vedike president, Hanumanth Kamath.

“The committee has a registrar of Mangaluru University on it and also  a history professor. What can either of them  do ? Is the road being named after a king or queen or is the issue related to any  historic event?” he mocked.

He said, “Let the officials ask the Aloysius College authorities to provide the necessary documents to prove their claim. If they fail to do so the government can go ahead and name the road after Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty. Setting up of this committee is merely an eyewash and intended to buy time.”