There is uncertainty over the proposal to widen the Karnad Sadashiva Rao Road and Light House Hill Road in the city.
Sources in the corporation told The Hindu that the leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here were divided over implementing it. While a group of leaders of the party wanted the council of the civic body to have a resolution on widening the roads in place, the other section opposed it.
The council, at a meeting in June, passed a resolution on acquiring land for widening the roads up to 24 metres. But the meeting held in July changed the resolution passed on widening the roads. It decided to refer the subject to the Standing Committee for Town Planning and Improvement.
Sources in the BJP told The Hindu that a “pressure group” whose members owned buildings on both the roads was blocking the decision. The “pressure group” scuttled the move of another section of party leaders who wanted the resolution in place.
They said that a section of party leaders felt that it was not feasible to widen the roads to 24 metres given the concentration of buildings on the roads while another section argued that it could be done.
While passing the resolution in the June meeting the council decided to widen the K.S. Rao Road from Navbharath Circle to Hampankatta Junction, and between Hampankatta Junction and Light House Hill by acquiring land. It also resolved on constructing an overpass and an underpass at the junction.
An agenda on the subject said that THE Mangalore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) in its II Master Plan for Mangalore Local Planning Area had proposed on widening the roads to 24 metre wide. It said that the Chairman and the Commissioner of MUDA had requested the civic body for it, as people were facing trouble due to traffic congestion on those roads. It said that the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada in a meeting at MUDA office on September 20, 2010 had said that the roads should be widened.
Some BJP leaders told The Hindu that the MUDA had put in cold storage for a proposal to build a multi-level car parking facility at old service bus stand at Hampankatta as there was no need to widen the roads.
There was no clarity with regard to the government allotting Transferable Development Right (TDR) for owners for parting their land for development works. Unless there was clarity over it land owners would not agree to part their land.
