A public consultation meeting here on Sunday to seek suggestions for the smart city proposal of Mangaluru City Corporation turned out to be a platform for airing civic problems.
The meeting was told that only 450 suggestions had been received online when the city had about six lakh population.
Intolerance of some of the councillors of the corporation came to the fore when a participant, a retired government official, demanded that the corporation had failed to form ward committees under the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976 and conduct ward sabhas. When Padmanabha Ullal, the retired official, pointed out at this some of the councillors vociferously opposed it and did not allow the participant to speak further. Hence Mr. Padmanabh cut short his suggestions. He also pointed out at the failure of the corporation in producing energy from wet waste.
A representative of the company for which the corporation has awarded the contract of preparing the concept plan proposal of Mangaluru smart city said that of 100 marks reserved for valuation of the proposal, 30 marks have been reserved for citizen participation in preparing the proposal.
It included vision of people for city and responses from public before preparing the proposal.
Blany B D’Souza, a terrace gardener, said the city should have more terrace and kitchen gardens. People should grow their chemical-free vegetables on their own.
The corporation can take steps for promoting it. Giving his own example he said that he hasn’t been purchasing vegetables from market for six years.
Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, said the city should not lose its cultural importance while preparing the proposal. Seeing less people in the meeting, he suggested that one more meeting should be held.
