Water supply maintenance to be handed over to ZP

Water supply maintenance to be handed over to ZP

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Oct 27, 2011:The Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) has decided to hand over the responsibility of maintaining water supply to Padu, Adyar, and Thumbe Gram Panchayats to the Zilla Panchayat since the civic body is incurring an additional burden of Rs. 84 lakh by supplying water to these villages without any income.  

According to the MCC agenda, the people of Kallige, Pudu, Farangipete, and Thumbe will get water from Thumbe free of charge after the implementation of the KUIDFC water pipeline, which is being maintained by the civic body. Around 2.25 MGD water is being supplied to these places since 2007. The MCC is spending Rs. 7 lakh every month toward electricity, wages, and pump set maintenance of this water supply system. 

 

Dr. Harish, the MCC commissioner, said that potholes will be filled within one week at an estimated cost of Rs. 2.5 crore. In response to Naveen D’Souza’s and Shashidhar Hegde’s suggestion to convene a meeting of road contractors, Mayor Praveen said that the meeting will be convened within 3 days.

 
Mr. Shankar Bhat spoke on the occasion and said that a particular organization was distributing photocopies of application forms for Ashraya Scheme for Rs. 500 per application and wanted to know if any organization has the right to do this for profit.  

Speaking about allotting land for landless people under various schemes, the MCC commissioner said that the civic body has identified land, but a few people have approached the court stating that the identified land is their kumki land. The MCC is also planning to construct flats under Vasanthi Yojana, he said and added that the civic body will also be able to construct homes for the poor if any organization steps forward to bear the expenses.  

Corporator James D’Souza spoke of the need to issue streetlights within MCC limits, stating that the majority of the streetlights are not functioning.  

The civic body has decided to pay monthly maintenance to contractors only after the corporators provide verification certificates, said the commissioner. He also said that tenders will be invited for maintaining streetlights at the earliest possible because the tender document is ready for the same.  

The state government has directed all urban local bodies to revise water tariff in an official letter dated September 28, 2011, but the MCC has decided not to hike tariff because the government has failed to consult the council before taking such a decision. Sudheer Shetty also said that the civic body has large water sources close by unlike other corporations, which have to spend more money to obtain water.

 

The MCC has also decided that automatic meter reading will be made compulsory for commercial flats, high-rise buildings, and non-domestic flats within the MCC limits.  

Accordingly, the MCC will invite tenders for the purchase of AMR and will initiate measures to install water connections. The fees to be paid will be included in the water bills, and users have the option to pay in 10 easy installments.