The Hindu

• Constructed by PWD at Urwa market, it has never been occupied 
• Proposals have been sent for four new hostels, says official
• Mescom directed to take stock of rural electrification programme

Mangalore, Jul 11: Ten years after it was built by the Public Works Department (PWD) under the special grants scheme for weaker sections of society, a hostel at Urwa Stores is likely to be demolished without even being occupied.

A district-level vigilance committee on atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, headed by Deputy Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao, has recommended the demolition.

The hostel, constructed by the PWD with 18 per cent SC/ST welfare fund of the Mangalore City Corporation, is now in a dilapidated state. It was never occupied because of the poor quality of work.

Making the recommendation at the district-level SC/ST grievance hearing chaired by him here on Thursday, Mr. Rao said that an inquiry being conducted by the Lokayukta into a complaint on the poor quality of construction would take its “own course”. Stating that there was no stay order against the demolition of the hostel building, Mr. Rao directed the corporation’s Joint Commissioner, Ajith Kumar Hegde, to complete the task.

Mr. Hegde said that the matter would be placed before the corporation for consideration at its general meeting and to take a suitable decision. He said that the issue of fixing culpability for the quality of construction would have to be decided and steps taken to recover the construction cost from the engineers or the contractor. The corporation would have to make budgetary provisions for a new building, he added.

Mr. Rao said the administration had sent a proposal for construction of four new hostels at Puttur, Dharmasthala, Moodbidri and Mangalore to the State Government.

Reacting to a complaint from an office-bearer of Karnataka Marathi Federation, M.A. Naik, that some pre-university colleges had flouted admission norms, Mr. Rao said that the administration had taken steps to streamline the process. The Civil Rights Enforcement Cell was getting the colleges to refund the excess amount collected by them to respective students, he said.

To a plea from the community leaders to regularise the services of SC/ST employees who had been working on daily wages in various government departments for more than 15 years, Mr. Rao said it would need a policy decision by the Government. Services of a few such staff had been regularised in the past, he said and added that aggrieved people should approach respective appellate bodies in this regard. When the district general secretary of Karnataka Dalit Sangharsh Samiti, S.P. Anand, drew the attention of the Deputy Commissioner to an instance where two title deeds had been issued against the same survey number, Mr. Rao said that it would be verified by the revenue authorities concerned. Stating that a similar case had come up recently, he said that the officials would be instructed to be more vigilant.

When a leader from Bantwal taluk drew the attention of Mr. Rao to the absence of a doctor at the primary health centre of B. Muda village, Mr. Rao said that the district health and family welfare officer would be asked to take necessary action in the matter. He took cognisance of a complaint of misuse of funds allocated for hiring jeeps to undertake fogging in chikungunya-affected areas of Bantwal taluk and promised to initiate remedial steps.

Mr. Rao accepted a suggestion by District Legal Services Authority member Gopal Kadmatt to represent to the Government on providing free education to girls from SC/ST communities up to the professional level. He instructed the officials of Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd. to take stock of the rural electrification programme, especially in areas where people belonging to SC/ST communities were residing in large numbers.