Mangaluru : The temporary stay order issued by the state government for naming Light Hill House Road as Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty Road despite of possessing all legal documents is an injustice to the system, felt president of Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty Abhimani Balaga Dr M Mohan Alva.

Briefing reporters here on Tuesday, he said the proposal on renaming the road was passed unopposed in the Council of Mangaluru City Corporation. Even the deputy commissioner and the police commissioner’s office had submitted a report to the government, before the government gave its approval for renaming the road.

Unfortunately, it is unfortunate that the government passed a stay order a day before renaming ceremony and this has hurt the sentiments of the people of the district. “The followers of Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty come from all castes and religions and are not those who engage in disrupting communal harmony and peace in the region. In spite of it, the government in its stay order had stated that the renaming of the road would disrupt peace in the district, which is unfortunate.”

Samithi working president Ajith Kumar Rai Maladi said, “Vijaya Bank Workers and Officers Union, Mangaluru zone, had submitted a proposal to the MCC to name one road after Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty. After a long process, the government had given its permission to rename Light House Hill Road after Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty in its order on May 24, 2017. Accordingly, the renaming programme was scheduled to be held on July 2, which received opposition from a section of the society. St Aloysius College is an educational institution of high reputation. However, using the students to stage a protest against renaming the stretch and trying to assert it as St Aloysius College Road was not a right move,” he said.

He said that Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty Abhimani Balaga and Vijaya Bank Workers’ and Officers’ Union will organise a Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty memorial programme at Town Hall in Mangaluru at 4 pm on July 29 where the future course of action on renaming the road will be taken. The decision to carry forward the fight legally will also be decided.

“By naming the road after Shetty will not help in increasing the virtue of Sunder Ram Shetty. However, it is an attempt to make his name immemorial,” he noted.

He said that Bunts’ Alias Nadavara Mathr Sangha had written to the chief minister, the home minister, the urban development minister, the law minister and the local elected representatives on the row over renaming the road. “I had appealed them to vacate the stay order within a month and allow to rename the road after Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty.”