The Hindu 24.02.2010
Civic chiefs to be held responsible for water woes
Special Correspondent
| Suresh Kumar holds videoconference with city corporation chiefs and Deputy Commissioners |
BANGALORE: Urban Development Minister S. Suresh Kumar on Tuesday warned Commissioners of seven city corporations in the State of holding them responsible if there was any problem in ensuring adequate supply of drinking water during the summer season.
The Minister, who reviewed the preparation of city municipal corporations for meeting the water supply, to prevent outbreak of epidemics in summer and progress of property tax collection as well as implementation of development works through videoconference along with Municipal Administration Commissioner Anjum Perwez for more than two hours from Bangalore, pointed out that the chiefs of all the city corporations had made it clear that there was no shortage of drinking water.
Whatever the problem existed was only regarding distribution of water and that related to pumping, he pointed out.
Mr. Kumar, who also interacted with Deputy Commissioners of the districts, directed the city corporation chiefs to ensure an “event-free summer period” by taking steps for proper supply of drinking water and preventive measures to check outbreak of epidemics especially water-borne diseases.
To ensure trouble-free summer, the Minister directed the city corporations to set up an exclusive control room, which works round-the-clock, to receive water supply-related complaints and to set up task forces to undertake repairs.
He set a deadline of 24 hours to rectify any pumping and borewell related problems from the time of receiving complaints.
He asked the city corporations to ban the open sale of cut-fruits and to prevent mosquito breeding as preventive health measures.
In a bid to bring about accountability among contractors who execute development works, the Minister directed the city corporations to put up boards displaying the names and telephone numbers of contractors near the places where development works have been executed.
Mr. Anjum Parvez asked the corporations to upload details on the progress of development works in their official websites.
He permitted the Mysore City Corporation to slap a penalty on the constructions in revenue sites towards the property tax.
But he made it clear that such a penalty had nothing to do with regularisation.
Some city corporations said they had plans to force defaulting property owners to pay the tax by taking up drum-beating exercise in front of their houses and also putting up their names on the notice boards.
