VIJAYAWADA: The general body meeting of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) on Monday passed a resolution seeking widening of the first reach of Mahatma Gandhi Road (Bandar Road) to just 80 feet.

During a discussion on three resolutions pertaining to the widening of Bandar Road, the general body meeting sought to restrain officials from widening the first reach to 100 feet on a par with the other two stretches, despite stiff opposition from the owners and tenants there.

Corporators of all political parties agreed that the interests of small traders and owners of minor structures in the first phase from Raghavaiah Park to Police Control Room needed to be taken into account.

They said compensation should be paid to those who would lose their buildings and land if they did not give consent letters. But in case of owners who had given consent letters in any of the three phases of the road, no compensation should be paid, they made clear.

City Planner K. Anand Babu said, in response to the resolution, that town planning officials were holding discussions with owners and tenants of first reach to pave way for a mutually satisfying solution to the problem.

The issue came to fore a little earlier when local MP Lagadapati Rajagopal intervened in a discussion on protecting thatched houses from fire accidents. With the permission of Mayor Tadi Sakuntala, the MP began to talk about the Bandar Road issue and removal of petty kiosk traders in 59th division on Monday.

Utilising the occasion, Mr. Rajagopal directed his ire at Municipal Commissioner Natarajan Gulzar, describing his style of functioning as `dictatorial' and `autocratic'.

He initially did not name any one during his intervention, though he used strong words such as `niyanatha' (dictator), `nirankusha vaikhari' (autocratic attitude).

But when newspersons later sought to know whom he was referring to as `niyantha' (dictator), the MP minced no words to say it was Mr. Gulzar.

Mr. Rajagopal found fault with the `forcible' manner in which 30-40 petty kiosk traders at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Nagar in 59th division were removed and said that the widening of Bandar Road was being done on the basis of a GO issued by the previous Government. Moreover, the general body of elected members had been kept in dark.

"If any budget has been made for widening, that expenditure must be deducted from the salaries of officers concerned," he remarked.

The MP called upon all corporators to put their political differences behind and pass a resolution restraining the widening of first reach of Bandar Road to 100 feet.

"I will ensure that it is implemented. If necessary, I will sit on a hunger strike," he said.

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