Drinking water scarcity and inclusion of nearby gram panchayats into the city dominated discussions at the general body meeting of Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) here on Saturday.
Raising the issue M.R. Pai, Leader of Opposition, said that some areas in the city were not receiving water regularly, despite claims by the CMC that there was no water shortage in the Baje dam across Swarna River.
Councillors Yashpal Suvarna, S.P. Kudva and Janardan Bhandarkar pointed out that there was water scarcity on Court Back Road, Old Post Office Road, and eight areas in the city, including LIC Colony areas. Mr. Bhandarkar also said that the CMC should reduce water supply to nearby gram panchayats, besides ensuring that it is not provided for construction activity.
Intervening, CMC president P. Yuvaraj said that the water level in Baje Dam was currently 5.17 m. Last year on the same day, the water level was 5.1 m. He claimed he was personally monitoring the supply of drinking water. “We will think of supplying water to all areas on alternate days after studying the situation,” he said.
Mr. Bhandarkar said that the proposal to include five neighbouring gram panchayats into the CMC should be kept in abeyance as the Council did not have adequate staff, infrastructure or finances to take care of new areas.
Mr. Pai said that the BJP had already opposed the inclusion of neighbouring gram panchayats. Finally, the meeting decided to keep the proposal of inclusion of gram panchayats in abeyance temporarily.
Roads blocked
Councillor Ramesh Kanchan said that Manipal University had blocked access to a public road leading to the End Point area. It had also shifted an autorickshaw stand from within the Manipal Institute of Technology campus to another area outside. But the university had not taken any permission from the CMC for the same.
Another councillor said that the university had blocked the road from V.S. Acharya Circle to Vijayanagara area. To this, Mr. Pai said that the ruling Congress members were behaving like the Opposition party.
Mr. Kanchan said that he had to raise these issues as the Opposition was inactive. This led to heated exchanges between the Treasury and Opposition benches. Finally, Mr. Yuvaraj said that he would look into the matter and take action.
