The Hindu

Mangalore, Sep 12: In a few days from now, men and women from various political parties will knock at your doors probably with promises to develop the city. The city corporation is going to the polls on September 28. Refresh memory on how the elected representatives in the last council fared between June 17, 2002 and June 17, 2007. Have the people gained something or nothing at all during this period ?

There were a few achievements and some failures. Sometimes, it appears that the people's representatives, including officials (?), were in deep slumber all these years. If not, were five years not sufficient to improve those frequently damaged stretches at Kankanady, Balmatta, PVS Circle, Light House Hill, Bendoorwell, the roads on which the Corporation Bank's headquarters is located at Pandeshwar and the City Hospital at Kadri, one opposite Sanjeevini building in Highlands (on Phalnir Road), in front of State Bank of India, the circle near Deputy Commissioner's office and one in front of Mangalore Nursing Home at Balmatta? These stretches are still in bad shape. Look at the condition of Pumpwell-Kankanady bypass road that joins near the Father Muller Hospital, and Pumpwell-Kankanady main road in front of a Corporation Bank's branch. They have become unfit for motoring. These are only a few examples inside the main city. There are many roads in residential areas such as Padil, Kodical, Shakthi Nagar, which are worse.

The corporation should have organised "Meet the people" programmes in every ward at least once in a month, to understand their problems, said Gururaj Budhya, secretary, Urban Research Centre, a non-governmental organisation. Such programmes help in planning for the future. But no such meetings were convened.

"We have observed that the people's representatives did not devote much time on identifying the needs of society during council meetings. Meetings were confined to debates on party grounds. They lacked vision," he said.

M. Shankar Bhat, a two-times corporator from the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in the council, said the ruling party did not make efforts to get funds from the Government under various schemes.

He said a file related to getting grants from the Union Government under Assistance to States for Development of Infrastructure for Exports (ASIDE) scheme was pending with the State Government for two years since 2002. As a result, there was delay in concreting the road from Karnataka Polytechnic Junction to Airport. This resulted in cost escalation by approximately Rs. 10 crore for completing the work which is still in progress, Mr. Bhat said.

The corporation dilly-dallied on contributing its share for constructing a second vented-dam across the Nethravathi at Thumbay to supply drinking water to the city. A move to construct the dam began in 2004. As the corporation failed to contribute its share, the State Government sanctioned Rs. 40 crore for the purpose only this year, he said. The ruling party did not bother to look into the progress of development projects undertaken by Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) under loans from Asian Development Bank. All the projects should have been completed by 2006 whereas not even half of them have been completed, Mr. Bhat said.

Development projects

Not that the last body did not do any work. The roads such as the one from PVS Circle to Urwa Stores and from Lady Hill to Kudroli via Mannagudda have been concreted. Concreting of the road between Lalbagh and Bejai was taken up while foundation stone for a similar work on Jumma Masjid Road was laid. In the Government Lady Goshen hospital, solar water heaters have been installed to provide hot water to women and children.

The public library building at Valancia has been developed. Grants were released for infrastructure development in a few government schools.

According to K. Diwakar, former Mayor, corporation officials were provided with walkie-talkie sets for speedy communication. Fingerprinted attendance system was introduced for the employees and a citizens' charter was published, he said. "More importantly, we did not raise taxes in the last five years," said Mr. Diwakar. Five bridges were built and 75 high-mast lights were installed in the city, he said.According to an official in the National Highways Authority of India (NHA), the corporation did not take seriously the issue of shiftingthe water supply pipeline from B.C. Road to Surathkal to facilitate the four-laning of national highways. Encroachment of footpaths and roadsides have remained as they were.

Although the number of domestic flights and flights to West Asia have increased and educational institutions multiplied, there is still a long way to go for preparing the city for the future.