Bhatkal AC informs protesters about Centre's plan to widen NH 66 upto 45 mtrs in Shirali; Dharna called off

Bhatkal 25 February 2019: (Bhatkallys News Bureau) In what came as a relief for the residents of Shirali, Bhatkal Assistant Commissioner Sajid Ahmed Mulla, informed the protesters that the centre was planning to widen the NH 66 in Shirali up to 45 meters. After which the protesters brought the Dharna to an temporary end on Sunday. For the past 10 days, the members of Shirali Gram Panchayat along with the residents had staged protest beside the national highway for limiting the widening work to 30 meters. However, on Sunday evening Assistant Commissioner (AC) of Bhatkal Sajjid Ahmed Mulla along with MLA Sunil Naik visited the place and informed about the center’s plan of extending the widening of road to 45 meters. Bhatkal MLA Sunil Naik also addressed the people and said, “Our protest is getting good response from the center. Very soon the widening of road will get extended to 45 meters”. Adding that the protest did not meant to halt the developmental work, Shirali Gram Panchayat President Venkatesh Naik said, “We condemned the NH 66 widening upto 30 meters, it is the tax payer’s money that is being used for the work, so we have the right to put forth our demands, we wanted 45 meters wide NH in the interest of our town and growing traffic”. He further said, “As we are giving a temporary break to this protest, we’ll be keep watching over the activity of road widening. Mass protest will be organised if the NH is still restricted to 30 meters. Bhatkal CPI KL Ganesh, Krishna Naik Asarakeri, Mohan Devadiga, Kishore Naik Chitrapur, Prabhakar Naik, Nagappa Naik, Rajesh naik and others were present during the occasion on Sunday. (Bhatkallys News Bureau)