‘JYOTHI CIRCLE’ to be Renamed as ‘AMBEDKAR CIRCLE’ by Dec 2023′- MCC Mayor
Mangaluru: A long-pending demand for the development of a structure in the name of B R Ambedkar at Ambedkar Circle in the city will become a reality by the end of December. 2023. Though the circle was named after BR Ambedkar a few years ago, the place is being referred to as Jyothi Circle. Dalit leaders have been demanding that a circle should be developed in Ambedkar’s name.
The Mangaluru Smart City Limited (MSCL) will complete Ambedkar Circle development work by the end of December 2023, said Mayor Sudheer Shetty Kannur during the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Grievance Redressal meeting held at the office of the Mayor. The Mayor said this after Dalit activists questioned the delay on the part of MSCL in completing the work. The activists said while other circle development works were completed at a quicker pace, there was an inordinate delay in completing the development of Ambedkar Circle, which has been a demand of activists for over three decades.
The activists insisted on a specific date of completion of work and threatened to walk out of the meeting if no assurance was made in this regard. The Mayor called MSCL officials to the meeting where the former directed the latter to complete circle development work by the end of December.
In another issue raised by the Dalits, the mayor said that the city corporation will soon introduce an app to survey the social, economic and educational status of SC/STs residing in 60 wards of the city. The survey will be carried out jointly by the MCC, in association with SC/ST community leaders, he said. The mayor said that SC/ST community members have been demanding that the city corporation increase the measurement of the houses constructed for civic workers in the city.
Many pourakarmikas declined flats in the first phase because each of the flats had built up an area of 270 square feet, the activists said. Kannur said he will visit the spot shortly along with officials and redress the issue “Since the 300 sq ft houses constructed for civic workers are not fit for a family, we have plans to construct new houses of 505 sq ft size,” the mayor said.
