Councillors expressed their anger over the personnel of Manipal University locking up the two-wheelers parked on what they termed as “public roads”, at the general body meeting of Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC), here on Tuesday.
Prashanth Bhat, councillor, showed a lock used by the personnel of the university to lock the two-wheelers. Even a municipal councillor, who went there, was not spared, though he had identified himself. “Who gave the authority to the personnel of the university to use such locks?” he asked.
P. Yuvaraj, councillor, said that the university was restricting the flow of vehicles on its roads and also on public roads by putting up gates. “When a large number of people begin using a private road, restrictions cannot be put on it,” he said.
Satish Kundar, councillor, said that Manipal University put restrictions on the use of some of the roads at the Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), but it was the CMC which was installing street lights on these roads.
Intervening, D. Manjunathaiah, CMC Commissioner, said that land issues did not come exclusively under the purview of the CMC. He would talk to the Udupi Tahsildar in the matter, he said. Finally, the meeting decided to set up a committee comprising councillors and government officers to look into all problems relating to the university and also to seek legal advice on these problems.
Meanwhile, when Ganesh Nergi, councillor, said that he had urged the CMC to install a statue of the architect of the Constitution B.R. Ambedkar in the city, Mr. Manjunathaiah said that he had sent the resolution to the district administration for further action.
