Commercial activities without licence warned of stringent action

Mangalore, June 30: MCC Commissioner Dr Harish Kumar has warned that stringent action will be initiated within a week against all those who have taken licence for house and are carrying out commercial activities like running hostels and paying guest, said

He was speaking at Mangalore City Corporation monthly meeting here on Saturday. He said the hostels and PG centres are run without providing basic infrastructure facilities and have been creating problems related to cleanliness in and around the vicinity.

Joint Commissioner Srikanth Rao said that the MCC has lists of illegal hostels and the MCC has been initiating measures to contain Dengue and Malaria, as per the direction of the Deputy Commissioner.

Corporator Sudheer Shetty said that owing to the improper work on four-laning of road at Kannur, the water is getting stagnated, thus becoming breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The water logged road is creating severe inconvenience to the two-wheeler riders. A hostel which is situated adjacent to the road does not have proper drainage facility. The drain water is let into the road.

While dumping the soil on the paddy fields to facilitate the widening the road or constructing houses, the owner should ensure that drain is created in the vicity, to facilitate the easy flow of water. The land conversion certificate should not be issued to those who fail to adhere to the rules.

When few corporators alleged that the health department has failed to contain the spread of malaria, the Commissioner said the blame game on the health officials continues for the last several years. In reality, the MCC does not have a health officer.

Realising the ground reality, the DC has deputed one health officer to MCC to take measures to check the spread of Malaria and Dengue. At the same time, 79 personnel will be outsourced to create awareness among the public on Malaria.

When Mariamma Thomas asked the statistics on the number of Malaria and Dengue cases in Mangalore, Health Officer Dr Sudarshan said that as many as 550 malaria cases and 31 Dengue cases were reported in the month of May. One person has lost his life due to Dengue fever, he added.

Overflowing dustbins

Corporator James D'Souza alleged that the dustbins are overflowing in almost all the wards in the city and the sanitary inspectors have not initiated any action to clear the dustbins.

In his reply, the Commissioner said the disposal of the garbage requires machinery which calls for logistic support. With three package proposal, which is awaiting approval from the government, GPS system can monitor the waste disposal. “We are hopeful of getting it approved from the government within a month,” he said.

Civic workers quarters

When the corporators asked why the work on quarters for civic workers quarters was halted, the Joint Commissioner said that the work has been carried out under funds from 22.75 per cent. However, 22.75 per cent should be utilised for the beneficiaries. The quarters once completed will become the MCC property, which is not allowed as per the rules.

PR card

Urban Property Ownership Record (UPOR) scheme Project Director Kusumadhar said unique legal property ownership identity cards or PR card will be issued to property owners after the survey and documentation.

However, the Corporators said that the loopholes in the system should be rectified before taking up survey work. The Corporators urged the Mayor to convene a separate meeting to discuss on the survey. Mayor Gulzar Banu and Deputy Mayor Amithakala were present.

'Mayor interferes'

Corporator Shanker Bhat said that many are alleging that the Mayor is intefering in the work of the Commissioner and has given direction to the officials to carry out raid after informing her.

The BJP corporators flayed Mayor Gulzar Banu for transferring her PA to Surathkal sub office. This led to verbal dual among the Council members and the BJP corporators and the Congress corporators entered into the well of the house, which forced Mayor to adjourn the meeting for sometime.

After the meeting resumed, Commissioner said that there was no interference in the functioning. “However, Mayor had sought details on the raid, to answer to the queries from the media.”

He said the raid against those traders who were not possessing trade licenses was carried out to sensitize the traders. Now, the traders have been asked to get the license within a month.

When the members demanded the MCC to issue notices to the traders to renew license, the Commissioner said that the notice can not be issued.