Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (ANK)
Mangaluru, Sep 24: Mangaluru City Corporation mayor Diwakar Pandeshwar has urged for the payment of property tax to be done before September 30 to avoid penalty.
Addressing media here on Thursday, September 24, Diwakar said, "Keeping the corona pandemic in mind, the government had extended time twice to make the payment for the property tax without any penalty. Now the last date for the same is September 30. The people are requested to also make payments for their pending water bills at the earliest. There are have also been a lot of complaints, loopholes in water bills, to resolve this issue we decided to conduct a water Adalat next month to resolve these issues.
"We have also received a lot of grievances regarding the illegal flex and banners put across the city. Three days were also provided for the removal of these illegal banners. On the expiry of the time period allotted, we conducted a drive to remove such banners. Whosoever wants to put up any flex or banners they will have to take permission from the MCC. At the same time, we will be carrying out drive to evacuate street vendors who have acquired footpaths," he stressed.
"During the recent MCC council meeting, we also decided to revise the water fare. The old water fare: 0-8 kilolitre – Rs 7 per kilolitre, 8-15 kilolitre – Rs 9 per kilolitre, 15-25 kilolitre – Rs 11 per kilolitre, 25 kilolitre and above Rs 12 per kilolitre. As per newly revised water fare 0-10 kilolitre – Rs 6 per kilolitre, 10-15 kilolitre – Rs 7 per kilolitre, 15–25 kilolitre – Rs 9 per kilolitre, 25-30 kilolitre – Rs 11 per kilolitre, 30 and above – Rs 13 per kilolitre," the mayor said.
"Even the solid waste disposal fee has been revised, earlier properties up to 500 sq feet built-up area liable to pay Rs 50, properties from 501 sq feet to 1,000 sq feet Rs 75 and properties from 1,001 square feet to 1,500 square feet Rs 100. The revised price: properties up to 500 sq feet built-up area liable to pay Rs 30, properties from 501 sq feet to 1,000 sq feet Rs 60 and properties from 1,001 square feet to 1,500 square feet Rs 80," he announced.
Corporator Premananda Shetty said, "We are deeply hurt by the allegations on renaming the St Aloysius College road to Mulky Sundaram Shetty road. Many roads have been renamed during the Congress and BJP rule, roads were renamed without any confusion and through unanimous decisions in the past. When a road has to be renamed, a lot of procedures are carried out, which can take up to one year of time. However, during that time no one raised any objections. We had also called for a hearing of all the parties in the month of February, the decision was then forwarded to the government. None of the decisions in this matter was either taken overnight or in a hushed manner."
With regard to renaming of Ladyhill Circle, mayor Diwakar said, "Several organizations have appealed to rename the Ladyhill circle to Narayana Guru Circle. There are set of procedures to be followed in renaming the circle and the MCC will look into it. Ladyhill is the name of a school which is why it is called the Ladyhill Circle. Similarly, it is Ambedkar circle, but it is called Jyothi Circle because of Jyothi Talkies."
We will also conduct a campaign to create awareness over wearing a mask, as we have observed people flouting the rule of wearing masks, he said.
Talking about the traffic issue related to the circle constructed around the clock tower, the mayor said that the police have raised objections on the construction as it may cause traffic problem. So the circle around the clock tower will be removed.
Deputy Mayor Vedavathi, corporators Sudheer Shetty, Poornima and others were present.