Mangaluru, June 2: Sudhir Shetty of BJP, Opposition leader in Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) addressing a press meet in the city on Tuesday, June 2nd; said the pending of Town Hall renovation work shows the administrative failure of MCC.
Sudhir Shetty said, since the past four months no development works have taken place. The Town Hall was closed for renovation works on September 19th, 2014 and the-then mayor Mahabala Maarla had said that it would be inaugurated on December 26th, 2014 on the eve of the completion of 50 years of Town Hall.
The renovation was work was given to the Nirmiti Kendra which and the work was planned on a budget of Rs 4 crore. In the general meeting of the council held on September 29th, 2014, Rs 99.75 lakhs was approved for the first phase and the work was started, and in a meeting held on October 29th, 2014; another Rs 98 lakhs was approved.
On November 26th– 2014, president of Nirmiti Kendra said that he could not complete the work due to lack of technical experts. In the first phase, only renovation work worth Rs 30 lakhs has been completed out of Rs 99.75 lakhs. No other work has been done. We did not get a satisfactory answer when we raised question about this matter in the MCC meetings. Moreover, theatre artistes and others are finding it difficult to host cultural events in the city. Even we protested in the last meeting held on May 30th.
Sudhir Shetty warned that, the protest will be intensified if the work is not completed soon. Town Hall appears like a dumpyard now. There is no proper review meeting to solve the issue. This is complete failure of administration in the MCC.
During BJP’s tenure, in the 2nd phase of work under Rs 100-crore CM’s grant, 77 out of 110 works were completed at a cost of Rs 29 crore. Still 33 works and Rs 71 crore are pending. In the 3rd phase under CM’s grant, no work has started and Rs 100 crore remains unspent. During BJP’s tenure, the grant for development works for each corporator was increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh, but after Congress came to power, it was reduced to Rs 15 lakhs, said Sudhir Shetty.
MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik said, the Town Hall is a cultural centre. We urge the district in-charge minister, the MLAs and the mayor to make some alternative arrangements to host cultural activities in the city.
When queried about the functioning of the MCC Commissioner Hephsiba Rani Korlapati, he said, that her work is satisfactory.
