Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (ANK)
Mangaluru, Mar 21: Residents of Kankanady Valencia ward in city protested over the issue of road widening in their ward and mayor Kavita Sanil went to them to listen to teh grievance.
Kavita promised them that she would discuss the matter at Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) meeting to be held on March 31.
The residents Patrick Albuquerque, Maxim D’Souza, Dhanaraj, Vishwanath and Nirmala speaking on behalf of residents to Daijiworld, said that they do not want the road to be widened to 9 meters at Red Building Lane in Capitanio within Kankanady-Valencia ward. They said the proposal to widen the mentioned road should be dropped immediately.
As per details available, some residents of the ward had given a petition to provide drainage facility at Red Building Lane in 2014. It was conveyed to them that the proposal was approved in a council meeting and standing committee meeting in 2016. But later when a resident of the locality applied for a licence for a new house, he was told that as the road would be widened there to 9 meters, his licence cannot be sanctioned as per plan.
Some residents sought information on the road widening proposal through Right To Information (RTI) Act on 10 October 2016. They received a reply on 29 November 2016, which said that the residents themselves had demanded for road widening in 2014 through a petition.
Upon verification, they learned that the petition submitted for the drainage was ‘doctored’ and the same was turned into a petition demanding road widening. The residents have blamed that the corporator of the ward is involved in the fraud.
Mayor Kavita Sanil said as more than 95 % of the houses in the locality will be affected if the road is widened, she will look into the problem and solve the issue as per the law.
The protest took place on Monday, March 20 and the mayor visited the place on Tuesday, March 21.