The Hindu        29.01.2015  

MUDA plans to build 2,000 flats

The Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) plans to build 2,000 flats in Mysuru for citizens who do not own a house or site.

A proposal has been submitted to the State government and the concept has secured in-principle approval. It will come up before the Cabinet for official administrative clearance in a couple of weeks.

MUDA chairman K.R. Mohan Kumar told The Hindu that the apartment units of 1 & 2 BHK are being contemplated on the existing vacant lands held by the authority in old residential areas.

“Once approved, these units will come up in nine layouts, including Srirampura, Vijayanagar 1st, 2nd and 3rd stages, and Lalitadripura,” he said.

The plan is to allot units only to those who have lived in Mysuru for at least 10 years and do not own sites or houses, said Mr. Kumar.

The proposed project also signals MUDA’s preference for vertical growth to arrest the unbridled horizontal sprawl of the city.

“The city cannot keep expanding horizontally forever and vertical growth option has to be explored,” said Mr. Kumar.

The old Mysuru comprising the heritage zones and the existing localities can be retained as they are. But the floor area ratio (FAR) in the new residential layouts coming up along the Outer Ring Road can be increased to facilitate vertical growth, said Mr. Kumar.

(FAR refers to the ratio of the built area to the plot area and is reckoned to be very low in Mysuru at 1.25 to 1.5)

In the newly approved layout at Balahalli, MUDA plans to carve out 6,155 sites in the 484.24 acre swathe of land, apart from leaving aside plots for civic amenities.

Though distributing over 6,000 sites may seem impressive, it pales into insignificance compared to the nearly 1.5 lakh aspirants awaiting a MUDA site.

Though the MUDA nurtured similar plans of constructing luxury apartments a few years ago, the concept did not take off.

However, this time the MUDA has submitted project details pertaining to 2,000 flats to the government for final approval.

The city cannot keep expanding horizontally forever and vertical growth option has to be explored.

K.R. Mohan Kumar,

MUDA chairman

The Hindu        28.01.2015   

Renovated Town Hall will not be ready soon

Work on the renovation of the Town Hall in Mangaluru isgoing slow. —Photo: H.S. Manjunath

Usually a centre of social activities in the city, the Town Hall, closed for renovation for the past four months, will not be ready in the near future.

This came to light at the meeting of the Mangaluru City Corporation council on Tuesday. Neither Mayor Mahabala Marla nor Commissioner Hephsiba Rani Korlapati were ready to commit on when it would be ready.

The hall was expected to be ready in December-end for its golden jubilee celebration.

Leader of the Opposition in the council Premananda Shetty alleged that its renovation has been delayed due to a lack of coordination between B. Ramanath Rai, Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada, J.R. Lobo, MLA, Mangaluru City South, and the Mayor.

He claimed that as per information with him, the MLA was ensuring that the work would not completed till the term of Mr. Marla ended (in March) as the MLA had not been taken into confidence before entrusting the work to Nirmiti Kendra. As a result the work has come to a halt.

Mr. Marla said: “It will not be over during my tenure as Mayor.”

When the Commissioner, without elaborating, said that there were “some technical issues” which would take a fortnight for solving, both the ruling and the Opposition members objected to taking such a long time. Chairman of the Standing Committee for Town Planning and Improvement D.K. Ashok Kumar also opposed it. But the Commissioner stuck to her reply.

The Mayor said that Nirmiti Kendra, which was entrusted the civil work to the tune of Rs. 1 crore, refused to take up the second stage works of interiors and acoustic works stating that it did not have technical experts to do it.

Mr. Marla wondered how then the agency has taken up other works costing up to Rs. 20 crore. After a debate over the issue, both the ruling and the Opposition members pressed that the kendra should not be entrusted with any more corporation work .

Finally the council decided to write to the government to de-recognise the agency for which the council could entrust works up to Rs. 1 crore without inviting bids and up to Rs. 2 crore with the permission of the government and without inviting bids.