Mangaluru, Oct 8: Hitting out at the local leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party for misleading people, District in-charge minister U T Khader has dared them to write to the Centre to keep slaughterhouse away from smart city project instead of sensationalising issue for political gains.
The minister’s remarks come in response to bizarre allegations made by Nalin Kumar Kateel and Shobha Karandlaje, the MPs of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi constituencies respectively and other BJP leaders that Rs 15 crore of the fund released for the Smart City project has been diverted towards the slaughterhouse in Kudroli.
“I know that some elected representatives mislead people for political gains. But, they should not stoop to this level,” Mr Khader said, adding that his job in the Mangaluru Smart City Ltd (a special purpose vehicle set up for the implementation of Smart City project) is only to make suggestions and the final decisions rest with a 15-member board of the SPV.
The decisions are taken by the board of the SPV which consists of MD & Chairman (Mohammed Nazeer), Manguluru mayor (Bhaskar Moily), four corporators, seven IAS officers, along with the leader of the opposition in the council (BJP's Premananda Shetty).
“MD and a board of secretaries they have the final decision. In a smart city, good health of citizens is of a primary concern which comes as a result of hygiene which is a goal of the Central government's Swachh Bharat plan,” he said.
"The slaughterhouse is an official one. When BJP was in power in MCC, their people ran the same Kudroli slaughterhouse for one whole year (2011). During that time, they only had been demanding better facilities of at the slaughterhouse,” he added.
He also said that almost 80 per cent population of Mangaluru consumes meat and it is responsibility of the government to make sure that they get hygienic food. “You eat meat. But if you visit the current slaughterhouse you may never eat again. Such is the situation there. Hence, I made a suggestion that funds should be allocated for the slaughterhouse," Khader said. “Don’t non-vegetarians in Mangaluru deserve hygienic food?” he questioned.
“Along with the suggestion to provide funds for the abattoir, I made several other suggestions to include hospitals, smart highways etc. A huge chunk of funds – about Rs 900 crore – was set aside for beautifying the city and upgrading infrastructure. An amount of Rs 30 crore has been set aside for developing a road underbridge near Mahakali Padpu. Other projects being planned under Smart City include developing a model road near Kadri Park (Rs 12 cr), and an indoor Kabbadi stadium in Urwa market (Rs 10 crore). The multi-level parking (Rs 94 cr), Central Market (Rs 145 cr) and inter-city bus stand (Rs 500 crore) are being planned under PPP (public, private partnership) model,” he said.
It is an issue of hygiene so that waste material from the slaughtered animals is disposed of properly and does not reach the groundwater and rivers and pollute them, Khader said.
The Congress leader said the leader of the opposition in the council Premananda Shetty was also present when I made the suggestion but nobody objected. They're just politicising a trivial matter, he said.
“If the BJP leaders still feel that spending money for slaughterhouse is wrong, they can write to the Centre and convince it to keep it out of Smart City project,” he said.
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bloody first finish the flyover in pumpwell ... nalin.. dont talk like an ***,,,,,
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