Mangaluru: Town hall, Water, waste problems dominate MCC meet
Mangalore Today News Network
Mangaluru, June 30, 2015: Mayor Jacinta Vijay Alfred informed the council that as per directions by the minister, four estimation lists have been drawn towards short tenders and added that the discontinued work has been taken up again at the Town hall. Dissatisfied by the answer, the opposition leader alleged that the work is being carried out without expertise.
Issues of town hall renovation, drinking water woes and waste management rocked Mangaluru City Corporation general meeting in Mangaluru June 29. At the beginning of the meet, opposition leader in the council Sudhir Shetty alleged there are only a few labourers at the town hall and they had no proper equipment.
They also displayed a letter, claimed to be written by MCC former Commissioner Hephsiba Rani Korlapati to the government, saying the work of the town hall was unscientific. The ruling party members counter claimed that the letter was written after she was relieved from her duty as MCC commissioner and hence, the letter has no value. Commissioner in-charge Gokuldas Nayak said that there was no such official correspondence in the file.
The BJP leaders got into the well of the council and staged a protest. Amidst the high-drama, there was exchange of words between the opposition and ruling party members. However, they withdrew their protest after they were convinced by MCC council whip Shashidhar Hegde.
Member A C Vinayraj said the Antony Waste Handling Pvt Ltd, which has availed the seven-year contract for waste collection, segregation and management, has not been managing the waste scientifically. He added that there are no sufficient labourers and machines. Also the unique company which has been given the contract for the preparation of manure from organic waste, has not been carrying out the work as mentioned earlier.
As per the agreement, 70 percent of organic waste must be converted to manure and only 30 percent of waste should go to landfill. Former mayor Mahabala Marla said that the company is loading silt along with organic waste, to record more weight. Member Bhaskar alleged that it is wrong on the part of the company to be irregular, when Rs 18.81 lakh is paid so far for the production of 1,808 tonnes of manure and Rs 18,000 is paid by the MCC towards per load of waste management. he urged the implementation officers to initiate action against the companies which violate the norms. Beach cleaning and road sweeping, which are also the part of the contract, are not being done.
Environment Engineer Madhu said that penalties have been imposed on the waste management firm for not carrying out the expected work.
Many corporators raised water supply and UGD problems in their wards. They also drew the attention of the council towards the disproportionate billing. Town Planning and development standing committee president Deepak Poojary said that there was a problem with the billing software and steps have been taken to rectify the same.
AEE Anil Kumar, is habitually absented for MCC meetings and has turned a deaf ear to the problems of citizens, the corporators alleged. Mayor assured of conducting a meeting with officials to discuss solutions to the problems of water woes and UGD apathy.
MCC Commissioner in-charge Gokuldas Nayak informed the council that under the Central government programme - smart city, a proposal needs to be drawn and be submitted to the Central Govt. Core infrastructure and smart solution towards assuring the quality for citizens will be the two main points under the scheme.
Core infrastructure includes good sanitation facilities, digitization, e-governance, safety of women and children while smart solution towards assuring the quality for citizens includes public grievance readdress, renewable sources of energy, intelligent traffic management etc. The council resolved to form a committee, headed by Mayor in this regard.