Car Street loses its charm

MANGALORE: Walking through Car Street in the old town area has always been a pleasant experience; the narrow road with tiled-roof buildings made visitors feel like they were in the Mangalore of the olden days. But they are mere memories today.
Thanks to the road-widening works by the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) this old town area has not only lost many structures of heritage value but also memories of a bygone era.Even the demography of the coastal town is slowly changing. MCC's decision to widen the road by 50 feet has compelled demolition of many old buildings here. While some of the old buildings have been replaced with commercial complexes, the rest were lost to road work.
Be it the building that once housed the Bank of Mangalore, the famous traditional eat out of Taj Mahal or the age old Panchamal Stores, all are mere memories today. The only old structure that didn't get the axe is the Flower Market. Even the old shrines in the area are being replaced by modern structures after a major portion of the old building was lost for road widening works.
While many are not happy over the developments, they agree that the MCC had no option as vehicular movement has increased multiple folds in recent times resulting in frequent traffic jams. The narrow streets and old buildings were the speciality of Car Street. Passing through the street was like passing through the town in its old days. "I will definitely miss them," regretted Savitha of Bangalore. K Devananda Pai, former corporator, too, concedes that the work was harmed the beauty of the area. But road widening was the need of the day as traffic has doubled since 1994, he added.