Mangalore, December 19: The 'builders lobby' is disrupting officials of Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) from carrying out their duty and eliminating illegal encroachments of public property like roads, Corporator Mariyamma Thomas alleged at the monthly meeting held at the MCC on Wednesday.
Ms. Thomas speaking about a builder encroaching upon a road by constructing a lawn which is causing inconvenience to people who walk on the road, reminded Mayor Gulzar Banu of her order to the concerned department in the previous meeting that by next meeting, the illegal encroachment should be dealt with. No action has yet been taken, Ms. Thomas said and revealed that builders are threatening officials of the MCC against taking such a step.
Refuting her, former mayor Shankar Bhat said that the civic body had taken a decision in the past with regard to beautification of the city to which Ms. Thomas accused him of being a part of the 'builders lobby'.
Corporator Shashidhar Bhat said that a fact finding committee formed by the Mayor which included him and other corporators had visited the place in question and brought to the notice of the gathering that the concerned builder had agreed to abide by the MCC's decision and even expressed cooperation with regard to widening of the highway.
Dr. Harish Kumar, Commissioner, MCC, in response to Ms. Thomas' question as to why MCC had not taken action to get the encroachment issue settled, said that the concerned road is under the ambit of the National Highway authority and MCC is yet to get power to get the encroachment removed from it.
He also mentioned that since the Council had previously decided to allow builders such beautification, action can be taken against the concerned builder if the Council withdraws the old decision.
Corporator Harinath raised the issue of increase in plastic waste being thrown by people in the last 15 days. Another Corporator Harish Surathkal stated that dustbins have been removed in many places and people have been throwing waste in the same place where the dustbins once were. However, no effort is being made by the concerned department of the MCC to keep an eye on these developments, he said.
The Commissioner said that in some places door to door collection of garbage has already begun while it is yet to begin in some places. However, from January 1, people will be given a helpline number through which they can intimate the MCC if concerned contractors are not coming to their houses for door to door collection, he said.
To Corporator Jayanthi B Shetty's query as to why the MCC is not making any effort to carry out patchwork of interior roads, the Commissioner said that of the limited funds that the MCC has, it has carried out patchwork of major roads and the interior roads will be dealt with phase wise.
Another Corporator raised the issue of the 'Tiger' operation to evict street vendors and the need to resume it. The Commissioner said in response that the operation had to be stopped after Human Rights Commission took objection to it and termed it an act of hurting the poor.
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