MYSORE: The city, which has drawn a nil in Jn-NURM projects among 63 urban places implementing the Centre's ambitious project for urban renewal, is seeking to make amends.

Running against deadline, the officials are seeking additional manpower to manage Jn-NURM projects. And, the ball is now in the court of government.

Additional technical staff are sought to be put on the job so that they can concentrate on the work and complete the works on time. The idea is to allocate the works so that pressure on the officials is eased. The Karnataka Slum Clearance Board is a case in point. The board is engaged in housing projects worth Rs 209 crore for slum dwellers in three phases, which is tasked to an executive engineer who is also in charge of eight districts. And, the housing project for the slum-dwellers is suffering.

The Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation, the state-level nodal agency for the Jn-NURM, is seeking its intervention to post superintendent engineer exclusively to take care of the housing projects for slum-dwellers. An additional executive engineer and two assistant executive engineers are also sought. The reason is that the team that is handing the job has not attended to projects that are worth few crores.

DC P Manivannan, who is Jn-NURM special officer, has approached the government arguing the case for additional manpower. He has written letters to the senior officials seeking them to help Mysore out of the mess. The city has failed to complete even one project. Seven projects are pending with the Union government and waiting for clearance. "Going by this phase, Mysore can never be able to complete the works undertaken. It will be a big loss for the city in case the funds are not utilized to put in place infrastructure to take the load," a senior official explained to The Times of India.

What the official machinery is betting on is appointment of senior officials on temporary basis like four years to attend to the job and get done with it. Like posting of officials to take care of three different projects awarded to the MCC by the Union government including Rs 100 crore project to put in place storm water drain system and Rs 31-crore solid waste management project. These works are now taken care of by the superintendent engineer and assisted by an executive engineer, who also have to manage the city affairs. What the officials are looking for are posting of two executive engineers to manage the three projects taken up by the MCC. This can be done under the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, the official stated.

MYSORE: The historical Doddakere could be revived, if the Mysore City Corporation has its way.

The civic body, which is planning to adopt the public-private partnership model to maintain Mysore's brand value as the heritage city, could preserve the sanctity of the lake if its plans get through. Owing to lack of funds, the civic body has not been able to maintain the monuments of historical significance. Be it the Curzon Park, Nishat Bagh or People's Park, the MCC is waiting for government funds to give them a facelift.

While Curzon Park abutting the Mysore Palace Fort and the Nishat Bagh with glass-topped bandstand are revived under Rs 100-crore special grants from CM B S Yeddyurappa, the Gopura Garden which is the last link to the famed Doddakere is waiting for its rejuvenation.

The MCC in 2001 moved in to protect the site marking the boundary and developing it as a park naming it as Gopura Garden. Eight years down the line, it has degraded owing to lack of maintenance. There are no guards to protect its sanctity either and the site has everything yet lost its verve. Why? The MCC has some 100 staff to maintain 218 parks attached to it.

The MCC Council is going in detail the proposal to develop and maintain parks in the city under the PPP model. The civic body has 218 parks in its control and is getting 442 parks developed in new layouts by Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA).

The Gopura Garden links Mysore to one of its oldest water holes, which jazzed up the surroundings in the central part of the royal city when it was still a small town. A vandalized gopura at the site stands as a mute spectator to the happenings around while cattle grazing at the open space holds mirror to its maintenance.

Devaraja Lake, popularly known as Doddakere, was one of biggest lakes in the city that was a value addition to Mysore Palace. It was a source of water for inhabitants around. Located to the east of the Mysore Fort, it was in use some 100 years ago. Surrounded by open space mainly used by rulers of Mysore, the water body was a sight to behold. In its surroundings were Summer Palace, Vasanth Mahal, Palace stables, which is now KSRP HQ, and Karanji Mansion, the villa of sister of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar.