The Hindu 01.10.2009
Malpe development panel draws flak at CMC meeting
Staff Correspondent
| ‘It has been in existence for six years, but has not done much’ |
Udupi: The alleged lackadaisical attitude exhibited by the Malpe Development Committee (MDC) came in for criticism at the general body meeting of the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) here on Wednesday.
Raising the issue, councillor Kiran Kumar said that the committee, which had been in existence for the last six years, had done little for the development of Malpe.
He said that as the council was not privy to the matters of the committee, the CMC should not cooperate with it. He added that even the local MLA had not been made a member of the MDC working committee.
Though the CMC president Dinakar Shetty was a member of the MDC, he had not been given a copy of the MDC meeting agenda in advance, Mr. Kumar said. His stand was supported by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party councillors. Terming the role of the CMC in the committee as “ceremonial”, Mr. Kumar said that CMC members should step down from committee.
CMC Commissioner Gokuldas Nayak said that since he was the member-secretary of the MDC, he could make the minutes of the meeting available to the council. He said that besides the CMC president, two councillors were members of the MDC and there was a demand to include two more councillors from Malpe in the MDC.
In reply to a question, Mr. Nayak said that the Government had sanctioned Rs. 76 lakh to the Department of Tourism for the development of Malpe. Of this, Rs. 22 lakh had been released for Malpe beach, while Rs. 5 lakh had been released for St. Mary’s Island.
The role of MDC was only advisory in nature and actual implementation had to be done by the Tourism Department, he said.
Councillor Amrita Krishnamurthy said that the new streetlights installed by the side of the new four-lane Kinnimulky-Taluk Office road were not bright enough and had resulted in five accidents already.
Councillor Mahesh Thakur said that the installation of the streetlights had actually cost only Rs. 15 lakh, although the contractor had given a bill for Rs. 60 lakh. But the CMC had still awarded him a 15-year contract on build operate and transfer (BOT) basis, he said.
‘Transparent’
Mr. Shetty defended the move and said that the entire process of awarding the contract had been transparent. The issue had been put forth before the CMC and implemented only after its approval, he said.
