Karwar: Members of Janashakthi Hitarakshana Vedike, taxi union and residents of Kadwad village in Karwar taluk on Friday protested against shifting of a proposed medical college from Karwar to Sirsi. They submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister, to Additional Deputy Commissioner Vijay Mahantesh, demanding that the college be set up in Karwar.

According to the memorandum, Karwar was one of the major developing cities in coastal Karnataka and the medical and technical colleges were the longstanding demands of the people of the region.

The protesters said that the people of the region were shocked by the news that the proposed medical college was being shifted to Sirsi citing the reason that Sirsi was the commercial centre of the district.

The memorandum said that Karwar with major projects like Kaiga Atomic Power Station, Seabird Naval Base, Kadra Hydel Project, Karwar Port and gold jewellery making units, with a total turnover of more than Rs. 1000 crore a month. Haliyal taluk, an industrial hub of the district, was the second major commercial centre of the district and Sirsi is far behind compared to the commercial activities of Karwar and Haliyal taluk. Yet there was a conspiracy to shift the medical college to Sirsi by projecting it as the commercial centre of the district, the memorandum said.

Karwar has rail, road and port connectivity and an airport would come up during the second phase expansion of Seabird Naval Base.

Contrary to this, Sirsi had no rail or national highway connectivity and the population was much less compared to Karwar.

Despite these, there were efforts to shift the medical college to Sirsi, the protesters alleged. They warned that people of Karwar would not allow anybody to shift it out of Karwar.

Mr. Mahantesh, who received the memorandum, said that the proposal for Karwar medical college was sent to the government and the college would be set up in Karwar.

He said that the memorandum would be forwarded to the Chief Minister.