Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)

Mangaluru, Jun 17: Days after Hephsiba Rani Korlapati was transferred following intense backdoor activities, former mayor and Congress corporator Shashidhar Hegde on Wednesday June 17 briefed the media about issues that led to the MCC commissioner's transfer.

Addressing a press meet at the Congress office here, Hegde, who had vociferously demanded Korlapati's transfer, related an incident wherein a proposal to hold a meeting on development works by the mayor was declined by Korlapati.

"The mayor (Jacintha Alfred) had given a letter signed by twenty councillors to convene a special meeting on development works. But the meeting was not called by the MCC commissioner. The mayor had called the special meeting to discuss issues like effective utilization of Rs 85 crore in premium affairs, continuing UGD work in the second phase of development projects, contruction of bus bay at Pumpwell, and development of Central Market and markets at Kadri, Bejai, Kankanady and Surathkal. As detailed project report needs to be prepared and sent to the government, this special meeting was called to discuss various issues and pass those resolutions in the next general council meeting.

"But when the letter was sent to the MCC commissioner to attend this meeting, she sent a letter saying that she could attend it as she had prior committments, and that the issues on the agenda had already been discussed in previous meetings and necessary steps taken as per law. When the mayor personally called her, she came to the meeting and gave vague answers and said that MLA does not have any right in the municipality," he said.

"When meeting was called to discuss Town Hall renovation work, the district incharge minister (Ramanath Rai) said that the work should be completed as soon as possible. Korlapati said she would get it completed in three months but she did not," he added.

"When Mahabala Maarla was the mayor he conducted Mayor's Cup and Kabaddi Cup but the honorary grant to the winners has been given yet. In Suratkal there is an office which mayor and commissioner are supposed to visit every Wednesday, but this commissioner has not visited it even once in her 6 months of service. When corporators Dayananda Shetty, Rathikala and Jayanthi Achar visited her office, Korlapati called the attender and gave him notice and insulted the corporators," he alleged, adding, "Elected representatives should be given due respect, be it a panchayat member or an MP."

"There were 20 chairs outside the MCC commissioner's office as there are people coming in throughout the day, but only three chairs were kept and the rest removed on the commissioners order. With this, people coming to the commissioner's office did not have place to sit. She asked the attender to collect memorandums from whoever came to submit them, but did not check even one memorandum and people's problems remained unresolved," Hegde said.

"Korlapati ordered the joint director not to issue completion certificates to builders and house owners without her permission. Without completion certificates one cannot get electricity or water supply connection. This had created a lot of trouble to the public," he added.

"In the past 5 months, in the engineering department 22 projects were sanctioned as Mangaluru is a coastal region. In five months much work can be done. Work should not get stagnated in any corporation, it should keep on progressing. If officials fail in implementing projects, then the ruling party will get affected. The opposition party leader gave a statement to a TV channel that the commissioner is good, but the next day in the general meeting the opposition spoke out and shouted slogans against the commissioner. They are creating confusion, they do not want work to happen so that the ruling party gets a bad name."

When asked why he was speaking about Korlapati even though she has already been transferred, Hegde said that he wanted people to know about the issues and why she was transferred.

When a reporter pointed out that Korlapati had not allowed any blacklisted companies to get tenders, he replied that no contractor in Mangaluru is blacklisted.

He further said that the district incharge minister would call a meeting on June 22 to decide the future course of action regarding Town Hall work.

He also said a new commissioner will be appointed at the earliest.

Lancelot Pinto, Harinath Jogi, Ashok D K, Mahabala Maarla, Deepak Poojary, Bhaskar Moily, Prakash Salian, Rauf, Kavitha Vasu and others were present.