Following allegations of misappropriation of taxes collected at MangaloreOne centres, the Mangaluru City Corporation Council on Thursday resolved to revert to collection of taxes and bills through banks. As many as 47 nationalised and 15 branches of other banks have been authorised for the purpose.
The new system should be in place after three months, the monthly general meeting of the council resolved here. MangaloreOne Centres collected about 80 per cent of the revenue of the corporation. Allegations were made against MangaloreOne staff that they misappropriated funds of the corporation, which was found to be prima facie true, said the agenda circulated to councillors. Hence, the corporation should go back to the system of collecting revenue through banks, the note said.
The former Mayor Mahabhala Marla said that by going back to the earlier system, the revenue directly gets credited to the corporation account the same day, unlike under MangaloreOne that used to keep the amount for several days and was earning interest.
Accounting system
BJP councillor Premanand Shetty opposed the move and said that the present arrangement with MangaloreOne cannot be discontinued without proper investigation of the allegations. “When you do not have a good system of accounting, why blame MangaloreOne?” he asked. He said that no such allegations are made by other government agencies which are availing of MangaloreOne services.
Reading out the decision of the council, Chief Whip in the Council Shashidhar Hegde said that MangaloreOne will continue to collect property tax and water bills for the next three months. Then, people can make payments at the authorised banks.
Sand availability
Councillors questioned the delay on the part of the corporation in lifting sand from the allotted sand bar for road works, including Alake Road, which has come to a standstill in the last several weeks. Mayor Harinath said that the sand available in the allotted sand bar was not of the quality required for road works. The district administration has allotted another sand bar. The required sand will be extracted and road works will resume in another two days, he said.
No water scarcity
Commissioner H.N. Gopalakrishna told the council that there was sufficient stock of water in the Thumbe vented dam. There were problems in supplying water to some wards because of power failure and illegal water connections. Five teams of officials have been formed to oversee the supply of water in 60 wards of the city, he said.
