Date:14/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/14/stories/2006081418490300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Protest against naming of road

Staff Reporter

7th Cross Basavanagudi named as Katta Bhavan Road; Jana Jagruti Vedike condemns action

IN PROTEST: Members of Basavanagudi Jana Jagruti Vedike submitting a memorandum to Member of Parliament H.N. Ananth Kumar in Bangalore on Sunday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Bangalore: Shops and other commercial establishments at Basavanagudi closed shutters on Sunday following protests against the naming of a road.

In a press release, Basavanagudi Jana Jagruti Vedike has condemned the naming of 7th Cross Basavanagudi as Katta Bhavan Road.

To name a road after Katta Bhavan, (a building on the road) even though several important personalities lived in the area, was wrong, the release said.

`Political colour'

However, B.S. Sathyanarayana, area corporator, said political colour was being given to the issue unnecessarily and that shopkeepers had been forced to close shops by anti-social elements.

He said Katta Bhavan was an important landmark and it had served as a community centreby holding regular free computer training, Yoga and Veda classes.

Earlier. at the road naming ceremony, Bharatiya Janata Party General Secretary H.N. Ananth Kumar said a statue of Rajkumar would be installed at N.R. Colony.