The Hindu
MANGALORE, Oct 1: The council of Mangalore City Corporation in its general meeting on Tuesday resolved to recommend to the Government to declare the corporation as a “B II” civic body. At present, it is graded “C”.
As per the 2001 census, the population in the 132.45-sq.km corporation area was 4.19 lakh. The number of houses under its purview was 1,11,210 and it had 1,37,606 commercial establishments, 53 hospitals, 60 markets and eight gardens. Even going by those figures, the city corporation is eligible to be graded up, according to sources.
Chief Whip in the council M. Shankar Bhat told the council that once the Government graded up the corporation to B II, it could get more funds for development and the employees of the corporation could get more allowances.
Future plans
The council approved the corporation’s proposal to demolish the markets at Jeppu, Car Street and Surathkal and build modern markets-cum-commercial complexes there with private participation. Apart from space for selling vegetables and flowers, those complexes would have shops, cold storage and parking facilities. As construction of such structures required huge funds, it was decided to invite private participation.
The council decided to refer a proposal to build a bus transit terminal at Manki stand to the standing committee for Town Planning and Improvement to take an appropriate decision. The agenda placed in the meeting said that at present, the buses were being parked in front of Mangaladevi temple. This was causing congestion there. The corporation had its own land at Manki stand near the temple. It had a small office and a primary health centre there. These structures could be demolished to build a bus transit terminal-cum-commercial complex.
The council approved a proposal to improve four circles in the city. They are: Hampankatta Circle, Bunts Hostel Circle, Ambedkar Circle (formerly Jyothi Circle), and A.B. Shetty Circle. Of the Rs. 1.06 crore estimated to cost for the project, Rs. 30 lakh would be for improving the Hampankatta circle, Rs. 26.35 lakh each for Ambedkar Circle and A.B. Shetty Circle and Rs. 22.7 lakh for Bunts Hostel Circle.
Mayor Ganesh Hosabettu told the meeting that a special meeting of the council would be convened within the next 10 days to discuss problems related to issuing licenses to build houses and other establishments. Sameer Shukla, commissioner of the corporation, said that the corporation would take action against contractors who failed to execute the projects awarded to them.
Honorarium
The councillors of Mangalore City Corporation on Tuesday resolved to request the Government to increase their monthly honorarium from Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 6,000.
At present, in addition to Rs. 1,500 a month, the councillors get Rs. 100 each as allowance for attending a general meeting and Rs. 300 a month as vehicle allowance. The members of the standing committees get an additional Rs. 100 for attending each meeting of the committee. The Mayor and Deputy Mayors get Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 2,500 as monthly honorarium. They do not get any other allowance. The agenda placed in the meeting did not specify the hike in monthly honorarium to be sought for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The members, however, sought a hike in their honorarium too.
Nada geethe
The council resolved to sing the “nada geethe” at the beginning of every general meeting from forthcoming meeting. Mayor Ganesh Hosabettu proposed this and all the members welcomed it without any objection.