Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (DV)

Mangaluru, Jun 26: District incharge minister Ramanath Rai on Friday June 26 took officials to task over the stalled work on Town Hall renovation and ordered them to finish the work within the next four months.

Chairing a review meeting at Mangaluru City Corporation here on Friday, Rai also hinted that there may be a 'conspiracy' behind the undue delay.

Opposition leader in the MCC Sudhir Shetty who raised the issue pointed that the Nirmiti Kendra which had been given over Rs 99 lac for the renovation work had completed work worth only Rs 30 lac so far, and had stopped the work citing unavailability of technical experts. He demanded to know when the work would be completed.

In response, Rai said, "We have been giving projects to Nirmiti Kendra from long. The delay is due to negligence of officers. There may also be a conspiracy behind this. If there are sincere officers then why is the work not getting completed? This is a failure of the administration of MCC. There is no dynamism.

"When will the Town Hall work get completed? There will be no more debates and discussions," he added. Rai also asked the superintendent engineer of MCC to call for short-term tenders and resume the Town Hall work."

Issuing a stern warning to the officials concerned, Rai said, "Strict action will be taken if orders are not followed. Officials who are not willing to follow orders can leave. We are not here for publicity. Those who do not work are not needed here.
Finish the work in the specified time frame. Town Hall should be ready within four months."

When Sudhir Shetty pointed out that former MCC commissioner Korlapati had writted to the government stating that there were not enough technicians to complete the Town Hall work, deputy commissioner A B Ibrahim said that he was not aware of any such letter.

Shetty further demanded to know when the government would appoint a commissioner to the MCC who would last for a full term. To this, Rai replied, "A new commissioner will be appointed soon. This city needs a commissioner who is upright, honest and hardworking."

Regarding work on the proposed bus bay at Pumpwell, Rai said, "It should be done on PPP model and constructed with an attractive design. There should not be any delay in the work." Executive engineer Dharmaraj replied that for the bus bay, an underpass has to be constructed near the national highway, and Rai asked him to hold a meeting with NHAI officials to discuss the matter.

Giving information about the works done, superintendent engineer said that under the CM's Rs 100-crore grant, 215 of the 255 works were completed in the first phase, while four were pending due to technical issues. In the second phase, 82 works out of 110 have been completed, 9 are in process and 15 in tender process, and that out of Rs 100 crore, Rs 21 crore is remaining. In the third phase of work, which is pertaining to road development, 18 out of 40 works have been completed, 13 are in process and five delayed.

"In future there should not be any delay in any work. All development works for which grants have been sanctioned should be completed on time. The administration of MCC should be active and officers should keep aside their differences and ego issues," Ramanath Rai advised.

MUDA commissioner Mohammed Nazeer said that a proposal of Rs 12 crore for the development of Urwa market has been sent to the government and is in the final stage of approval with the finance department. "The project is expected to be approved in the next cabinet meeting," he added.

He also said that the detailed project report for the development of Urwa Stores market at a cost of Rs 24 crore was ready with the chief engineer, but due to technical issues, it was getting delayed.

Superintendent engineer said that Jeppu and Bejai markets are in the final stages of work, and while the Bejai market is expected to be inaugurated in the first week of August, Jeppu market would be ready in a month."

MLC Ivan D'Souza, MLA Mohiuddin Bava, mayor Jacintha Alfred, deputy mayor Purushottam Chitrapur and others were present.