Honnavar: A protest rally from Gersoppa circle to Sharawati circle in Honnavar was marked on Monday, 23rd September by the protesting committee against the changes in the National Highway 66 widening project with the decision to keep 45 meters of national highway widening in Honnavar rather than a flyover.

Addressing the public meeting after rally, Flyover Protest Committee President S Subramanya said that the protest was not against any government or party, rather, it is organized to address the problems faced by the students, senior citizens and the local public. He said the town had a plan of 45 meters width road and a flyover. But this plan has been scrapped. The new plan would create problem to the students, senior citizens, women, pedestrians and motorists at the Sri Devi hospital cross, Sharawati circle, Church cross, Kamath Hotel, BEO office cross, Gersoppa circle, Karki Naka, etc. Therefore, the protesters have a single demand that the project be executed in the same manner as before and the flyover must be constructed in Honnavar.

Further speaking, President of the protest committee, JT Pai, said that the issue has been discussed with Kumta MLA Dinkar Shetty and Bhatkal MLA Sunil Naik and have been brought to the knowledge of MP Anant Kumar Hegde. In addition, the issue has also been brought to the notice of Karnataka Assembly Speaker Vishweshwarayya Hegde Kageri. We are getting good support from the public to struggle on this issue. The only solution to this problem is to build a flyover in Honnavar without making any changes in the earlier plan.

As the rally was about to conclude, Kumta MLA Dinakar Shetty joined the gathering. Addressing the public, he said that it is the responsibility of the elected public representatives to respond to the grievances. He said that if a project proves to be against the public interest, it is necessary to review, and this responsibility falls on the public representatives. Building a flyover in Honnavar does no injustice to anyone. There is even no loss to the government in this. Therefore, I will try to solve the problem by keeping this proposal before the government. I am always ready to support the rights of the protesters, he said.

The protestors submitted a memorandum to the government through Tahsildar Vivek Sheni. Accepting the memorandum, Tahsildar assured that the memorandum will be sent to the government. It is estimated that more than 6,000 protesters attended this peaceful rally.