Kadri Park users, including daily walkers, have objected to the forest department removing part of the pavement of the redeveloped Kadri Park Road to provide access to the new office of the Deputy Conservator of Forests and other forest department offices, opposite to the All India Radio station, located on the premises of circuit houses in Mangaluru.
A portion of the pavement, in between a row of stalls, and the compound wall of the circuit houses, has been removed. Now works are on to build a ramp to provide access to the forest department’s offices on the premises of the circuit houses.
Jagannath Gambir, a member of Kadri Park Development Committee, said the Mangalore Smart City Ltd (MSCL) had redeveloped the park road from the Circuit House junction to Padavu High School junction (on NH 66) at a cost of ₹16.5 crore. The park road has been beautified by rebuilding pavement, decorative streetlights, seating arrangements, granite pergola, and monument pillars. New stalls have been built and some among them opened recently.
Mr. Gambir said the forest department should have brought to the notice of MSCL the need to provide access to its offices on the premises of the circuit houses. “It is sad to see a portion of the redeveloped road, which was opened in March 2023, being damaged to provide access to the forest department’s offices,” he said.
Social activist Yatish Baikampady said the forest department could have used the entrance road to the circuit houses as access road to its offices. There was no need to damage the already redeveloped Kadri Park Road pavement. “Unfortunately, nobody has shown the basic concern to a public park area. While private developments were not allowed to disturb many park areas, here, the government itself has demolished a park zone to build a new road through the naturally shaded footpath meant for pedestrians,” Mr. Baikampady said.
Expressing his displeasure, Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyas Kamath said the government has gone ahead with the work without taking opinion of people and by keeping elected representatives in the dark.
Dakshina Kannada Deputy Conservator of Forests Anthony S. Mariyappa said the new building will house his office. It will also have the offices of Assistant Conservator of Forest, Mangaluru, and also of the Department’s Information Technology Cell and the Marine Cell.
The new building was built at a cost of ₹3 crore by Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited. The department cannot use the entrance road to circuit houses as a public road due to security concerns as there will be restrictions due to the movement of VIPs to the circuit houses. Hence a portion of the compound wall on the premises of circuit houses was brought down to have direct access to the forest department’s offices from the Kadri Park Road, he said.
