Karnataka - Udupi   

Congress protests against ‘misrule’ of CMC

Udupi: The Udupi Block Congress unit staged dharna in front of the office of the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) against what it termed the “misrule” of the CMC, here on Friday.

M.A. Gafoor, president of the district unit of Congress, said that it was an offence to throw garbage on the roadside. People could use the garbage generated in their houses as manure in their gardens. But refusal to hand over the garbage to authorised collectors could not be considered an offence, he said. A few CMC personnel had tried to cut off water connections to some houses in the Karambally area recently because they did not agree to hand over garbage to the collectors. The CMC personnel relented only after people protested, Mr. Gafoor said.

The Congress was against such high-handed behaviour by CMC personnel. The CMC was charging a monthly fee for garbage collection from houses and commercial complexes. But the poor could not afford to pay the monthly fee. Hence, the CMC should not impose the fee on the poor. It should generate funds from other sources, he said.

A proposal to cut water supply connections to houses which refused to hand over garbage was made in the general body meeting of the CMC on October 31. This proposal should be rejected. There was no logic in linking the issue of garbage collection with drinking water supply. The CMC should drop this proposal, Mr. Gafoor said.

Congress leader Amrit Shenoy said that CMC president Dinakar Shetty should resign immediately. The roads in Udupi were in poor shape. The works taken up under the Karnataka Urban Development and Coastal Environment Management Project (KUDCEMP) left a lot to be desired, he said.

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