National flag to come back at Kadri Park in a couple of days

The national flag on the State’s second tallest flag pole at Kadri Park in Mangaluru, which was removed four months ago, is set to come back in a couple of days.

Official sources said the flag was removed four months ago during the monsoon. Heavy rains, coupled with heavy wind pressure, had damaged the flag. Officials said arrangements have been made to repair the damaged part locally. The flag is likely to be back on the pole by Thursday, official sources said.

Mangaluru Smart City Limited set up the 80-metre pole at Kadri Park at a cost of ₹75 lakh. This was the first of the two poles of MSCL and the other will come up at Tagore Park shortly.

MSCL bought a 40 foot by 20 foot national flag from a firm in Pune, Maharashtra. The flag was set up on the pole on September 18, 2024. Anticipating likely damage to the flag placed at such a height, MSCL, which is maintaining the pole, had procured 10 additional national flags. Till now, all the flags got damaged. The last flag, which got damaged, was removed during the monsoon.

In a memorandum given to Deputy Commissioner H.V. Darshan on December 4, members of Kadri Park Development Committee expressed the need for better maintenance of the pole, while stating the need to expedite the process to get the flag back on the pole.

Members B. Jagannath Gambir, Ram Mugarody and Gopalakrishna Bhat have expressed concern over poor maintenance of a children’s play area in the park. They also pointed to poor maintenance of streetlights, replacement of solar lights placed by Karnataka Bank with poor quality solar lights, and about the non-functional music fountain in the adjoining deer park.