Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, said here on Thursday that there is a need to conduct an inquiry by the Lokayukta on why underground drainage (UGD) works taken up in the city by availing loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) a decade ago are still incomplete.
Speaking to presspersons after inspecting sewage treatment plants, wet wells and associated facilities built with ADB loan he alleged that there was corruption in the implementation of the UGD and associated works.
Hence they are incomplete even after a decade. He would support any demand for an inquiry by the Lokayutka.
He said funds available under the Atal Mission For Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation scheme cannot be used for completing the works.
He said that of the ₹163 crore allocated by the Union government to Mangaluru City Corporation under the AMRUT scheme the civic body has proposed to spend ₹55 crore for completing the incomplete underground drainage and associated works.
“The amount under AMRUT scheme is meant to take up works for improving basic infrastructure in the city and not for completing the incomplete UGD and related works for which ₹118 crore has already been spent,” he said.
Despite knowing that the works were incomplete, the city corporation, in a hurry, took possession of the facilities developed by Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) for the corporation in 2014, he said.
Earlier he along with a team of reporters visited the sewage treatment plant at Surathkal and wet wells in Bajal and Padil. Both the wet wells were not functioning during his visit.
Foul smell
In Surathkal, residents of Kudipady complained of contamination of ground ater because of discharge of water from the STP into the open drain. Residents said that on some days foul smell emanates from the water discharged from STP.
He was accompanied by N. Yogish Bhat, former MLA, K. Monappa Bhandary, former MLC, and BJP councillors Ganesh Hosabettu, Sumitra Kariya, Premanand Shetty, Roopa D. Bangera, Rajendra, Vijay Kumar and Sudhir Shetty.
