Urban News

Hindustan Times  18.11.2010

The municipal corporation has spent Rs 70 lakh on laying pavements and redoing the lawn at just one of the five gardens at Dadar Parsi Colony. This is what the residents of the Five Gardens area have found through a Right to Information query. Upset with the "unnecessary work" and "unjustified exorbitant spending", the residents have now stepped up the heat on the municipal corporation over the controversial Five Gardens beautification project.

"The corporation has been so covert with implementing the project that they did not even tell us what it plans to do. Hence, we had to use the Act to get this information," Activist Nikhil Desai, who filed the RTI query. 

The BMC had started work on only one of the five gardens in 2009.

Of the Rs 1 crore allotted for the 4,000 sq m garden, the activists found that the BMC had spent Rs 35 lakh on laying a pavement inside the garden, around Rs 8.2 lakh on the lawns, and the rest Rs 9.2 lakh as miscellaneous expenditure.

Dr Rustom Soonawala, a local resident, "We have been opposing the building of pavements because it will eat into our green cover."

According to estimates prepared by the locals, the BMC's plan to build pavements inside the lush garden would cost each garden a loss of 700 sq m of green cover.

"This means the BMC has actually spent Rs 35 lakh effectively only on reducing the green cover of the five gardens," said Desai.

Zarine Engineer, the granddaughter of Mancherji Joshi, the founder of the Dadar Parsi Colony, said: "The original railings used to give a certain air of dignity to the area and were perfectly in shape, despite being there for 80 years. These new railings were an unnecessary expenditure and damage the aesthetics of the place."

But the BMC maintains that the expenditure is justified.

"These expenditures were incurred after following due procedure. We started work on this garden last year, but for the remaining four gardens, we are in consultation with the locals," said Sanjay Kurhade, F-North ward officer.

The Hindu  18.11.2010

Rs. 25-crore special package announced for Udupi CMC

Staff Correspondent

UDUPI: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said on Wednesday that the State Government would provide a special package of Rs. 25 crore to Udupi City Municipal Council, which was celebrating its platinum jubilee. An additional amount of Rs. 8 crore would be released for the construction of District Offices Complex.

He was speaking at a function organized by the District Administration to distribute saris to 12,998 mothers of the beneficiaries of the Bhagyalakshmi Scheme, here.

The Chief Minister said Rs. 10 crore would be released for the construction of footbridges in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts. The Government would provide solar lamps in remote areas of Udupi district.

A legislation would be enacted shortly to protect the interests of “moolageni” tenants in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts.

Defends decision

The Chief Minister supported his Government's move to denotify the Sri Krishna temple of Udupi and entrusting it to the Ashta Maths.

Mr. Yeddyurappa told presspersons that by denotifying the temple the Government had not violated any law. On the tirade of Opposition parties against his Government, Mr. Yeddyurappa said the Opposition could make a list of their charges against the Government. The Government would make a list of its achievements in the last two years.

“Both the sides could go to the people and present their arguments before them in the forthcoming zilla and taluk panchayat elections. Let people decide,” he said.

On the Opposition's charge that various lands had been denotified and given to his sons and Ministers, Mr. Yeddyurappa said it was not wrong to get land for industrial development within the ambit of the law.