MANGALORE: The district administration is set to acquire land from private parties along some of the main thoroughfares here for the ongoing road widening work. As part of the proposed drive, Deputy Commissioner V. Ponnuraj conducted a survey of the congested Car Street and Central Market areas on Friday.

Accompanied by Revenue and Public Works Department officials, Mr. Ponnuraj took measurements of the roads in these areas and identified properties that would have to be acquired and later demolished for road widening.

Speaking after the survey, Mr. Ponnuraj said that in the city’s old business district there was considerable congestion on the stretch passing through Durga Mall, Car Street, Central Market and Hampankatta. This stretch would be cleared of all major obstructions soon, he said.

The plan was to provide for smooth flow of traffic along the corridor connecting Kottara Chowki, Lady Hill, PVS Junction, Jyothi Circle and Hampankatta Junction and the Central Market area. The first bottleneck in this fast-moving traffic corridor, he said, was at PVS Junction. However, the properties that were blocking the smooth flow of traffic here had been identified for acquisition. Widening had already started on land that belonged to the Deepa Comforts Hotel there, he said.

The Hampankatta Junction was still an eye-sore for the authorities and moves were on to make the approach to the city’s longest traffic signal smoother.

The road leading to Hampankatta from the Milagres Church side would be widened to three lanes by acquiring land from the church, the Canara Jewellers and some Moolageni tenants living on the stretch. “Negotiations are on with the tenants whereas the church and the jewellers have agreed to our plans in principle,” Mr. Ponnuraj said and added that enough land would be acquired there to provide 8- to 10-ft wide footpaths.

Owners of Jyothi Cinema had agreed to facilitate the widening of the road leading to the Jyothi Junction from the Lighthouse Hill, he said. The interim report of the Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation Plan had been received by the district administration and many of the changes that were proposed would be inspired by the recommendations of the interim and the final reports, he said.