MCC council approves proposal to name road after Harekala Hajabba

Mangaluru City Corporation has adopted a resolution to name the stretch of the road from Hamilton Circle to Rao & Rao Circle in Mangaluru city after Harekala Hajabba, who was recently honoured with Padma Shri award.

The Council meeting was chaired by Mangaluru Mayor Premananda Shetty on Thursday.

Congress Corporator Abdul Latheef had moved the proposal seeking council's approval for naming either Hamilton Circle or any one of the nearby roads after Harekala Hajabba.The meeting resolved to send the proposal to name the road from Hamilton Circle to Rao & Rao Circle as ‘Padma Shri Harekala Hajabba Road’ to the Town Planning Standing Committee of the Council for completing the procedure.

Speaking on the proposal, Latheef said "Harekala Hajabba, was born to Kutyami Beary and Beefathima and had opened a school by selling oranges in Mangaluru. Though uneducated, Hajabba had dreamt of a school for his village even when hewas selling oranges in the city by carrying them on his head. Hajabba is the pride of Mangaluru and the road where he sold oranges should be named after him," he added.

The Mayor said that the proposal will be sent to the government after it was cleared by the Town Planning Standing Committee. “The standing committee will follow the government directions of 2009 to complete the process before sending it to the state government for approval. As per the directiosn of the state government, the proposal will be published in vernacular newspapers, inviting suggestions and objections for the proposal."

Chief whip in the council Sudheer Shetty suggested the MCC of holding a felicitation programme to Hajabba.

Discussion on corruption

The council meeting also saw a heated discussion over a viral video of Mayor Premanand Shetty taking MCC officials to task over corruption.

Taking the ruling BJP to task over the video, Congress corporators alleged that citizens were forced to pay Rs 500 at each table in the MCC to get their works done.

Opposition leader A C Vinayaraj said that people have been discussing about corruption in the MCC on social media platforms.

Corporator Naveen D’Souza from Congress said that corruption is rampnt and there is a need to end the menace.

Mayor Premanand Shetty sought details of the corruption charges.

After introducing E-Khata, Nirman-2 building license application and online property tax systems in the city corporation, the mayor said it will ensure transparency. “We have introduced online facilities for the convenience of the citizens. The technical issues in the software will be sorted out shortly, said the Mayor.

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