Mangaluru erupts in mass protest against ‘irresponsible’ city corporation

Mangaluru, Sep 14: Hundreds of citizens on Monday staged a massive protest under the banner of Communist Party of India (Marxist) against what they dubbed “the blind, deaf and dumb” city corporation of Mangaluru.

The protest was organised to exert pressure on ruling Congress in the corporation council to address basic issues of people in the city.

The “Maha Dharani” in front of the Mangaluru City Corporation at Lalbagh caused traffic jam for some time on a few prominent roads in the city.

Before converging in front of the MCC building, the protesters took out several processions from Kankanady, Nanthoor, Urwa Stores and State Bank bus terminus in separate branches.

Addressing the protesters, Sunil Kumar Bajal, the Mangaluru City South constituency secretary of CPI(M), said that the civic body has completely forgotten its responsibilities and failed to accomplish the pending works.

“The MCC has failed to accomplish sewer network project taken up with more than Rs 200 crore loan from the Asian Development Bank more than a decade ago,” he said.

As a result people in Surathkal, Hosabettu, Jeppinamogaru, Yekkur, and Bajal and many other parts of the city have not been able to connect sewer lines of their houses to manholes in the main network, he added.

Mr Bajal said that during the concretisation of roads, the MCC has completely forgotten to construct footpaths in many parts of the city.

He also slammed the ruling Congress for hiking the property tax. “You came to power two years ago by promising you will not hike the property tax. Now you broke shamelessly broke your promise,” he said.

Mr Bajal said that despite staging a series of protests the MCC has not provided housing sites for the poor in the city for almost two decades.

The CPI(M) leader said that the MLA, in the manifesto for the Assembly election, had promised that vacant government land would be identified in the city and it would be reserved for the sites.

“Later, the MLA said that 11-acre land had been identified near Kannur for building apartments for the poor. But no steps have been taken to turn that into reality,” he lamented.

Some of the rich in the city have encroached upon government land, but no steps have been taken against them, he said.