Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada J. Krishna Palemar said here on Sunday that the Government would develop a township on the outskirts of the city, spread over between 2,000 acres and 5,000 acres of land.
He was speaking at a function organised by Mohtisham Complexes Pvt. Ltd., to inaugurate its supermall “City Centre” here. The Minister, however, did not mention the place where the proposed township would come up.
Later, when presspersons wanted to know the place of the township, Mr. Palemar said he did not want to reveal it at this juncture. The Mangalore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) would develop it. Its objective was to ease congestion in the city, he said.
The owners of properties, who would surrender their land for the township or whose properties would be acquired, would also be the stakeholders in the project along with the MUDA. It would be worked out in such a way that such owners would be able to retain some land even after surrendering their property or after it was acquired. The MUDA would fix the ratio of land which they could retain with them. Once the MUDA developed the township with basic infrastructure facilities such as roads, parks, water supply, electricity connection, sewage lines and the like, those owners would be allowed to sell their lands to others. The MUDA would allot other sites developed by it.
While addressing the gathering, Mr. Palemar invited global investors to invest in tourism development in the coastal region, particularly in Dakshina Kannada.
The Government would conduct a global investors' meet at Bangalore in June. The coastal region had huge potential for investment in tourism sector. The State had released Rs. 53 crore for promoting tourism in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, he claimed.
Mr. Palemar described the opening of the “City Centre” as another feather in the cap of Mangalore. The city was poised for rapid growth in the coming years. Considering its future development and the heavy rains that occur here, the Government was concerting all major roads, he said.
The Minister, who also holds the portfolio of Environment and Ecology, took a dig at those opposed to cutting of trees for widening roads in the city. It was not proper to do so for development works, he said.
Violations
The Minister asked the builders not to violate rules and regulations during construction. The Government had introduced “Akrama sakrama” scheme to regularise buildings with minor deviations only to provide the builders an opportunity to correct themselves in future. Penalty would be imposed on violators of building norms before regularising such buildings, he said.
Mr. Palemar asked the builders in the city not to pay huge ransoms following demands from underworld elementsSuch threats or telephone calls might be fake, he said.
Mayor Rajani K Dugganna, MPs D.V. Sadananda Gowda and Nalin Kumar Kateel and MLAs U.T. Khader and K. Abhayachandra Jainwere present.
