Halting of Mangaluru smart city works shows BJP’s inefficiency: UT Khader

Mangaluru, Jan 12: The inefficiency of Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC), Mangaluru Smart City Limited (MSCL) and the BJP government has resulted in the high court suspending all ongoing works of smart city mission in the city, alleged Mangaluru MLA UT Khader.

He was speaking at a protest organised by the Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee (DCC) against the MSCL, MCC and the government on Tuesday.

“The MSCL has failed to implement the Smart City projects effectively and it has been stopped following high court direction. It is the inefficiency of the MCC council led by the BJP. They failed to convince the high court and present facts. The MSCL should have made provisions to dispose construction debris scientifically before commencing works. I had prepared an action plan for the disposal of construction debris when I was the urban development minister,” Khader said and demanded the MSCL to clear the legal hurdles for smart city works.

Noting the BJP that bagged majority in the MCC council is vision less, Khader said the voters of the city voted the party with the hopes of presenting a better administration. “Now people of Mangaluru are repenting for electing the BJP in the MCC council. They have no futuristic vision towards city’s development. Though the state government had earmarked Rs 125 crore for MCC in the 2019-2020 budget, the BJP government has not released it. Meanwhile, the BJP corporators and MLAs in the city have no courage to question the government,” he said adding that people in the city have been facing multiple issues related to roads and infrastructure.

On the protest against farm laws, Khader said that it should not be considered as an agitation of farmers alone. The new laws will allow capitalists to exploit farmers, he said and called upon party workers to launch protest in favour of farmers.

K Harish Kumar, MLC and DCC president, said the ministers, MLAs, corporators and mayors from the Congress were instrumental in various development works that were launched the city.

However, in BJP’s administration in the MCC, they have failed utterly even in the implementation of solid waste management. “They increased the water supply cess three times even when people were facing difficulties due to pandemic,” he added.