The Mysuru City Corporation’s (MCC) recent move to entrust the maintenance of the parks in the city to the development officers of the jurisdictional zonal offices came under fire from the councillors on Monday.
During the MCC Council meeting held here on Monday, councillors cutting across party lines questioned MCC Commissioner C. G Betsurmath’s decision to remove the 370-odd parks in Mysuru from the administrative control of the civic body’s horticulture wing and entrust their supervision to the development officers in the zonal offices.
Leader of the Opposition in the MCC Council, J.S. Jagadish (Congress) raised the issue and took serious offence to Mr. Betsurmath’s move to “close down” the horticulture wing of the civic body without taking the councillors into confidence.
He was joined by councillors belonging to other parties, including Ramprasad (BJP) and Cheluve Gowda (JD-S).
While, Mr. Ramprasad wondered how the MCC commissioner expects civil engineers and other officials to enjoy the expertise needed to maintain plants, Mr. Cheluve Gowda criticised the commissioner for burdening the staff of the zonal offices with additional work.
However, Mr. Betsurmath said the decision to entrust the maintenance of parks to the zonal offices was on account of the severe shortage of staff in the Horticulture Department. There has been no replacement for the post of the assistant director of Horticulture Department, who was transferred a long time ago, he said adding that the department did not have sufficient staff to man the parks in the city.
Mr. Betsurmath clarified that the MCC had not shut down its Horticulture Department as alleged by a few councillors.
Meanwhile, Mayor B.L. Byrappa, in his reply to the discussion, assured to withdraw the order issued by the MCC Commissioner and ensure status quo on the issue of maintenance of the parks in the city.
