MCC under fire at road safety meeting

Accused of failing to provide pedestrian amenities

Many concrete roads in Mangaluru have neither shoulder drains nor footpaths.

The Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) came under severe criticism from the participating general public for its “complete failure” to ensure pedestrian facilities, including footpaths, at the Road Safety Committee meeting here on Thursday.

Though the discussions began with removal of unscientifically laid humps in the city, it turned towards concrete roads that rarely have either shoulder drains or footpaths. Activist G. Hanumantha Kamath wanted to know what prevented the contractor or the MCC from constructing drains and footpaths despite the concrete roads being around four years old.

Another participant, Hasanabba Ammembala, pointed out that only 15 per cent of the people used vehicles while the rest used public transport or walked.

In its zeal to smoothen vehicular movement, the civic body had completely forgotten the common man, he said. People were forced to walk on roads endangering their lives, he said.

Reality check needed

A representative of autorickshaw drivers urged Deputy Commissioner (DC) A.B. Ibrahim, who was chairing the meeting, to do a reality check by inspecting many roads. In-charge MCC Commissioner Gokuldas Nayak took exception to Mr. Kamath’s allegation that the corporation was reluctant to construct humps and footpaths as no “kickbacks” would be available.

However, when Mr. Kamath defended his words and reiterated his question, Mr. Nayak had no answer. The DC asked the corporation to prioritise the issue and ensure footpaths on all major roads.

With regard to road humps, Mr. Ibrahim directed the MCC to replace unscientifically laid humps with scientific ones by January 15.

Autorickshaw drivers wanted to know the status of an MCC resolution passed around three years ago identifying 280 parking slots for autorickshaws.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Uday Nayak said the proposal appeared to have become redundant following the widening and concreting of roads. The department had now identified about 117 locations and work on 98 would begin soon. Mr. Ibrahim asked the MCC to ensure at least one autorickshaw stand for each ward by January 15.