The Hindu

• Tariff in Udupi is higher than in Mangalore, says Congress councillor
• Get the ADB loan waived, ruling BJP told
• ‘Some officials are supplying water to other areas’

Udupi, Aug 1: The issue of revision in water tariff dominated the general body meeting of the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) here on Thursday.

Councillor Nityananda Volakadu (independent) said that the steep increase in water tariff was not acceptable. The tariff announced by the council were higher than those charged by Mangalore City Corporation. The least the council could do was to bring the charge on par with the charges in Mangalore, he said. Councillor Jayananda (Congress) said that people were asking why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was adopting a dual policy.

Councillor M.R. Pai (BJP) said that although the party wanted to reduce the tariffs, this was not possible. There were 70,000 water connections in Mangalore compared to 11,800 in Udupi. The Swarna second stage here was being financed by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and hence a comparison between the policies of two civic bodies was improper, he said.

Mr. Volakadu said that since the BJP was ruling the State, the council should try to get the ADB loan waived. He was supported by Ms. Anandi, who said that the Congress’ objection to the increase in tariffs should be recorded.

Heated debate

A heated debate ensued between the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress members. Councillor Kiran Kumar (BJP) said that Mr. Volakadu and the Congress councilors were objecting to earn publicity. President of the CMC Dinakar Shetty said Mr. Volakadu had supported the increase in tariffs at a special meeting on July 21. If councillors kept changing their stance, he would get all their statements recorded.

Mr. Volakadu said that he had supported the increase in tariffs based on the facts provided in that meeting. It was only later that he learned that the tariffs in Mangalore were lower.

Mr. Shetty said that the revised tariff was lesser than those that prevailed during the Deputy Commissioner’s regime. Mr. Kumar sought action against CMC officials involved in supplying water to neighbouring gram panchayats.

Mr. Shetty directed the standing committee to investigate the issue. Councillor Amrita Krishnamurthy said door-to-door garbage collection by self help groups had stopped. The CMC had removed the garbage bins and the people were dumping the garbage into the drains, she said. Mr. Shanbhag said that an action plan would be prepared for garbage collection in the city.