Urban News

The discussion held over the last two general body meeting was carried over to Wednesday.

During the beginning of the meeting, Member Mariamma Thomas said that the ruling given by Mayor during the last meeting for implementation of Karnataka Municipal Councils Act Section 112 (C) strictly without any deviation has not yet been taken up by the officials. She questioned if the officials value and respect the ruling of the Mayor or not.

She sought explanation from the Municipal Commissioner about the obstacles preventing them from implementing the law.

Commissioner K N Vijayprakash said that though there are no confusion with regard to residential set up under Section 112 (C), there are problems in application of the same for commercial set ups. He said that Corporation has written to letter to the Government seeking clarification over the same and they are awaiting reply, which should be reaching them in a week or so.

Mayor M Shanker Bhat however ending the discussion said that if government does not reply to the queries within a week then he will go to Bangalore, meet the minister for Urban Development and seek answers.

Meanwhile, Member Naveenchandra informed that in many commercial set ups, though the blueprint has space left for parking, when execution, the owners manage to use it for commerical purpose by getting door number and trade license. Due to this practice, the road widening works seem futile as all vehicles remain parked on the roadside.

The members unanimously agreed that action must be taken against the officials and the building owners who deviate rules and utilise parking slot for commercial purposes.
Opposition members demanded withdrawal of 15 per cent penalty that can be imposed under single site clearance for legalisation of illegal residential set up.
They said that the system is faulty as the said 15 per cent is payable to Mangalore Urban Development Authority (MUDA).

“Corporation does all the work and Muda walks away with the money. This is incorrect. Further those with larger land holding can afford to pay the penalty but what about those who have got small chunk of ancestral property,” they questioned and urged that the said 15 per cent must be withdrawn by the government for the sake of common men.

Slaughter house
Corporator Premananda Shetty said that Health Officials raided Kudroli area and closed down only one slaughter house stating it is illegal, while the fact is that there are many more illegal ones functioning. Endorsing the view of Shetty, members Aziz and K Ashraf said that officials must take step to close down all the illegal slaughter houses.

Health Officer Manjaiah Shetty said that they have raided and the one they found has been closed.

They will take action in future if they receive complaints on functioning of illegal slaughter house.

Members raised objection to the fact that MCC hires JCB shelling out a sum of Rs 43,67,880 annually for the same.

Members raising question at the utilisation of the JCB said that instead of paying so much for the JCBs, MCC can manage to purchase one for itself. However Mayor said that purchasing a JCB and then paying for its fuel, maintenance and personnel would workout costlier than the existing system.

Control of stray dogs, asphaltation of interior roads, maintenance of pay and use toilets were some of the other issues discussed during the meet. The house condoled the demise of singer Ashwath and actor Vishnuvardhan.