Mangaluru: Just after commemorating the feast of its patron St. Aloysius Gonzaga, the century old premiere institution in the coastal district came in for a rude shock with the reported news of renaming the road from Catholic Club, Hampanakatta to Ambedkar Circle as Mulki Sundararama Shetty Road by Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) as per the Government Order.
The management of SAC along with thousands of well-wishers have strongly objected to the MCC move after the latter took a decision to rename the road after getting the consent of several secular organisations.
SAC college management in a press release has listed several reservations without any intention of creating a controversy on renaming the road after Mulky Sundararama Shetty. The college has high regards for him and the services rendered but there have been several roads and buildings named after him in the state, stated the press release.
The Light House Hill (LHH) road renamed as St Aloysius College Road on the request of the college, mentioned the release, attaching photograph with the name board in it and asked MCC to shelve the proposed move.
The release stated, “The college in its own rights has listed the enormous contribution to the society and the nation in setting high academic standards and selfless services in education, healthcare and social services rendered by Jesuit community fathers worldwide, especially for making Dakshina Kannada an educational hub by terming, St Aloysius College as the pride of Mangalore”, justifying its request to MCC.
The college with a glorious history of 137 years of its existence has drawn comparison with the famous Fr. Muller Hospital established by Jesuits. The services of Fr.Muller Hospital have been recognised by naming the main road after it and requested MCC to appreciate the services of St Aloysius College and retain the name of the said road as St Aloysius College Road.
It has listed leading luminaries who emerged from the campus starting from TMA Pai, Justice K S Hegde, former Lokayuktha Santhosh Hegde, former union railway minister George Fernandes, Orthopedician Dr. Shantharam Shetty to modern day politicians from the region including Janardhan Poojary, U T Khader, Ivan D’Souza, Yogish Bhat, Nagaraj Shetty among several others.
The list in the press release contains the names of Sri Jayaram Bhat, Sri Mahabaleshwar Bhat, chairmen of Karnataka Bank; Allan Pereira, former chairman of Syndicate Bank; K V Kamath, Chairman BRICS Bank (formerly chairman of ICICI Bank); Dr. K V Rao, renowned scientist; Ullas Karanth, famous environmentalist; Sri Aravind Adiga, Booker prize winner; Padmashree Anantha Agarwal; Yenepoya Abdulla Kunhi, founder of Yenepoya Institutions; Siddarth, Founder, Café Coffee Day; Sudhir Shetty, CEO, UAE Exchange; K L Rahul, test cricketer; popular music director Gurukiran, Dr. Deviprasad Shetty, world famous heart surgeon and several former students who have made names in the fields of education, industry, politics, banking, medicine, judiciary, sports, literature, cinema, music, environment, social work, journalism and spirituality.
It has also recalled the visits by two illustrious presidents of India-Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy and most popular Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who spoke very high of the services of Jesuits in education, healthcare and social service.
The college presently has a strength of over 14,000 students and thousands associated with alma mater. St Aloysius College Chapel is attracting tourists from all over the globe for its world famous rare paintings.
The press release was made available to the media in the presence of Rev. Fr. Dionysius Vaz, Rector; Rev. Fr. Praveen Martis, Principal; Dr. A M Narahari, Registrar; Archibald Menezes, President, SACAA; N G Mohan, SACAA; Rev. Fr. Pradeep Sequeira, Finance Officer and Rev. Fr. Melwyn Pinto, Vice Principal.
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