The row over naming Light House Hill Road after the late Mulky Sundar Ram Shetty deepened with Buntara Yane Naadavara Matru Sangha stating on Saturday that it will fight for naming the road after the former chairman of Vijaya Bank, as permitted by the State government on May 24, 2017.
The government, however, stayed its order on July 1.
Speaking at a function in memory of Mulky Sundar Ram Shetty at Town Hall here, sangha president Ajith Kumar Rai Malady said they are pained by the controversy over naming of the road after the late Mr. Shetty, who has worked for the development of all communities in the region.
Mr. Rai said the government issued an order permitting naming of the road after Sundar Ram Shetty on May 24. It was saddening that the State government later stayed its order. Mr. Rai said there was no question of attending meetings to be chaired by district in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai to bring consensus on the issue. “We will fight along with other members of society till this demand is met,” he said.
Nalin Kumar Kateeel, MP, said this fight was not just of one community but the society at large as Sundar Ram Shetty has helped people across communities. There were no records to show that the Light House Hill Road was known as St. Aloysius College Road, he said. Writer Aerya Lakshminarayana Alva, former MLA K. Amarnath Shetty, Bunts community leader Sadananda Shetty and activist Hanumanth Kamath spoke.
Opposition
Meanwhile, St. Aloysius College and the Communist Party of India (Marxists) have opposed the naming of the road after the late Mr. Shetty.
They have demanded that the road should be named after the college. United Muslim Organisation of Dakshina Kannada has demanded that the road should be named as Idgah Masjid Road. The GO on July 1 said that its earlier order was stayed as J.R. Lobo, MLA, Mangaluru City South, informed that it will lead to law and order problem.