BALLARI: Ballari district administration has named the Bombay Press Road road in the city after Agadi Lakshmi Narayana Shetty, whose family’s land was acquired to widen it. The family gave up one acre and 30 guntas to widen the road without claiming any compensation.
Earlier, the road was a small lane buzzing with activity. There were several slums along the road too.
“The need for widening the road came up in 1999 during an election campaign, when B Sriramulu was the BJP candidate from Ballari. A fight broke out between Congress and BJP workers on the stretch. The matter was resolved but we realised the need for widening the road,” explained BJP leader Gali Somashekar Reddy, who initiated the project after he became the Ballari MLA in 2008.
However, the plan ran into a hurdle after Reddy proposed a project worth `10,000 crore to widen the stretch. “The government had planned to acquire many properties. However, the district administration stated then that it was not feasible. But, Reddy managed to get funds to start the construction of the road. Then we brothers decided to donate the land for the road,” Agadi Gavi Siddeshwara Prasad, the
second son of Lakshmi Narayana Shetty, told The New Sunday Express.
The three Agadi brothers -- Marulusiddeshwara, Gavi Siddeshwara and Shivakumar -- expressed their happiness about the government’s decision to rename the road after their father.