Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)

Mangaluru, Oct 20: A review meeting chaired by urban development minister Vinay Kumar Sorake was held at MCC here on Monday October 19, wherein various development issues were discussed.

The main issue raised during the meeting was collection of revenue. MCC members alleged that there was no systematic arrangement to collect revenue. When a sub-committee was formed, it found that there was difference in the revenue collected by Mangalore One and the revenue collection estimated by the corporation.

The council members also complained that there is no adequate system to keep track of the collection of property tax either. There is no proper record of who has not paid the property tax. They demanded that a proper system be made to collect revenue so that they could pay the bill for maintenance and garbage collection. There are no proper details on the bills paid at Mangalore One, they said.

Replying to these allegations, MCC officials said that computerization of MCC is under process and it will solve the problem to certain extent.

Speaking to the council members, Sorake expressed his displeasure over lack of progress in this regard since his last meeting and suggested the commissioner to check with other corporations and adopt a proper system. He also said that he wanted to see the progress in the next meeting. "If there is no progress then the officials concerned will be held responsible and action will be taken," he said.

The officials, giving the figures, said that there are a total of 82,899 water connections including 76,025 residential ones in the city. "As against the targetted figure of Rs 40 crore last year, Rs 25.65 crore was collected. Out of the target of Rs 40 crore this year again, only Rs 16.40 crore has been collected. A sum of Rs 49.25 crore is in arrears," they explained. Noting that progress in revenue collection including property tax and water bills is far from satisfactory, Sorake asked the concerned to hold ward level reviews within a month, duly informing the officials that he would be convening another progress review meeting after a month. He felt that there is scope for the city corporation to increase its total annual revenue to Rs 100 crore, and asked officials to make enough efforts to meet this ambitious figure.

Sorake also said that the government has taken steps to issue title deeds under section 94 cc to those who have occupied government land and built houses there.

Premanand Shetty drew the attention of the minister to the fact that the task of distributing zones to the two zonal commissioners posted to the city corporation has not been attended to so far. The zonal commissioners too said that they are finding it difficult to take administrative measures as their jurisdictions have not been demarcated so far. Both Sorake and Lobo asked the officials to take steps in this direction immediately. Former city mayor, Mahabala Marla, chief whip, Shashidhar Hegde, corporator, Ashok Kumar D K, leader of the opposition, Sudheer Shetty, and Naveen D'Souza, raised the issue of problems created by certain conditions contained in government rules.

Solid waste management

Some members also accused the Antony Waste Management of not meeting the expectation of the people. They alleged that Antony Waste Management has failed in cleaning the roads as mentioned in the contract.

Answering to this, an MCC official said that Antony Waste Management has progressed up to 80% in urban areas but in rural areas it has to improve. Minister Sorake directed the officials to give notice to Antony Waste Management.

ADB Phase 2

When the issue of ADB funds under phase 2 came up, members of the opposition said that there were some pending works in the ADB first one, and pointed out that the STP at Jeppu was inaugurated before its completion. Answering to this, Sorake said that 95% of the work is completed in the first phase and only 5 % of the work is pending. It would be completed at the earliest, he said.

"MCC will get Rs 200 crore under Amruth scheme and funds from ADB second phase also. These funds can be used to complete the work," informed Sorake.

Various other issues were also discussed during the meeting.

MLA J R Lobo, mayor Jacintha Alfred, MUDA chairman Ibrahim Kodijal and others were present.