The Hindu 01.04.2010
Mayor warns contractors against poor quality work
Staff Correspondent
Hubli-Dharwad Mayor Venkatesh Mestri addressing an HDMC council meeting in Hubli on Wednesday.
HUBLI: The Mayor of Hubli-Dharwad, Venkatesh Mestri, has warned contractors against poor quality work.
After making his first speech in the council meeting of the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation as Mayor, Mr. Mestri was reacting to comments from the council members on his maiden speech.
He said that he had begun inspecting the various development works in the twin cities. Any contractor found turning out substandard work would be dealt with severely, he said.
The Mayor assured that at least another 18 wards would be brought under the 24 x 7 water supply project within a year’s time. Subsequently, the project would be extended to all the wards. Also, measures would be taken to streamline the existing water supply cycle, he said.
Responding to the concerns of the council members, especially those belonging to the Opposition parties, he promised them that the grants for development works would be distributed evenly among all the wards.
Earlier, , Mr. Mestri listed out his priorities as Mayor.
He said the corporation had received Rs. 152 crore for the Rs. 350-crore round-the-clock water supply project in all the wards of Hubli-Dharwad. He would initiate measures with the help of the council members to get the remaining amount released and implement the work in a phased manner.
Making comments on the speech of the Mayor, council members of the Opposition parties, including Leader of the Opposition Ganesh Tagargunti, Hazrat Ali Doddmani, Rajannava Koravi, Deepak Chinchore, Altaf Kittur, Vijayalakshmi Luthimath and Ashok Jadhav expressed displeasure over the functioning of the officials of the water board.
They urged the Mayor to focus mainly on streamlining the existing water supply cycle especially in areas where the frequency was once in 10 days.
At one point of time there was a heated discussion between the members of the ruling party and the Opposition members when Mr. Deepak Chinchore termed the Mayor’s speech as just a repetition of the budget speech.
The former Mayor, Viranna Savadi, defended Mr. Mestri’s speech and said that there was progress with regard to improving the water distribution network and suggested that an immediate meeting of the water board officials and council members was convened to address the problem.
