The Mangaluru City Corporation Council, led by the BJP, has decided to write to the government to declare 6.16 acres of government land, which is the playground near Paduva High School, as a public playground, and hand over the land to the corporation.
The decision was taken in the meeting of the council on Tuesday amid opposition by the Congress councillors.
According to the Leader of the Opposition Congress in the council, Naveen R. D’Souza, the matter pertaining to the use of the playground is before the Karnataka High Court. In a such a situation it was not appropriate for the council to seek the government to declare the land as a public playground by handing over the same to the corporation. The playground is in Ward. No. 32 under Kadri village.
Meanwhile, the council in its meeting decided to name the road from the Circuit House in Kadri to Bejai Church Circle after the former Union Defence, Industry and Railway Minister George Fernandes.
Councillor Sudhir Shetty Kannur had sought the council for the same as the late Fernandes was born in Bejai on June 3, 1930. He became the member of the then Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporationfrom 1961 to 1968 and emerged as a trade union leader in Mumbai. An agenda tabled on the matter said that Fernandes won nine Lok Sabha elections betwee 1967 and 2004. He fought for the rights of of poor and common people.
He was also the architect of the Konkan Railway line laid from Mumbai to Mangaluru. He was also Industry Minister in the then Morarji Deasai led Union Cabinet.
In another decision, the council resolved to name the Bondel Circle on the Airport Road after 16th century Kannada poet Sarvajna.
Mangaluru City North MLA Y. Bharat Shetty had appealed to the council for the same. Sarvajana is known for his simple three-line poems called ‘tripadis’.
An agenda on the same said that the Bondel Circle provided connectivity to government women polytechnic, Besant Engineering College, Mahatama Gandhi Centenary High School. In addition KIOCL Ltd’s quarters are located nearby.
