Tiger Circle, a landmark in the centre of Manipal, close to the Manipal Bus Stand, has now become history owing to widening works of the Udupi-Manipal Road, here.
The Circle has been demolished after the Udupi – Manipal stretch is being developed into a 30-metre concrete road. This stretch is now part of the 90-km NH169A connecting Malpe fisheries harbour here with Tirthahalli in Shivamogga district. Manipal itself was a small hamlet surrounded by forests till educational institutions began coming up since the 1950s.
Amshumali, writer, said that the place got the name Tiger Circle because a wild cat used to frequent this place when the dense Kundelkadu forest was around.
Since then the forest has receded and Manipal has grown into a major education hub and a cosmopolitan area with students from different countries studying here. Financial institutions and other industries are also located here.
While no one has seen a tiger here in over two decades, a leopard had paid a brief visit to an educational campus on April 9, 2014. However, personnel of the Forest Department managed to trap the leopard in a cage the same day and it was later released in the forests of the Western Ghats.
Meanwhile, some local persons want to save the Tiger Circle in some way and a campaign for it has also been started on social media. Sudhir Nayak, a campaigner, said that one could understand that Tiger Circle had to be demolished for widening of the road.
“But more than being a landmark for a long time, people also have memories attached with it. Hence some small structure should come up in its place so that these memories are retained,” he said. However, sources in the National Highways Department said that there was no proposal for a constructing another Circle in the present road-widening plan. But if the Road Safety Committee forwards a proposal, the Department might look into it, sources added.
