More than 200 mobile phone connections used by councillors and senior officials of Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) are being withdrawn following a direction from the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA).
While calls made to most councillors of the MCC, including Mayor Ravi Kumar, receive the response that the number “does not exist”, the mobile phones of most officials continued to ring on Sunday.
However, MCC Commissioner G. Jagadeesha confirmed to The Hindu that he has directed the telecom service provider to withdraw more than 200 mobile connections in use by councillors and officials of the civic body.
The mobile connections were given under a corporate plan by the State-run BSNL during the tenure of P. Manivannan as MCC commissioner in 2007. The MCC was footing the bill.
Mr. Jagadeesha, however, said the connections were offered without permission from the government. He explained that the DMA had directed him to withdraw the mobile phone facility as the facility had become a financial burden on the MCC.
“The DMA threatened to deduct the bill amount from my salary if the mobile connections were not withdrawn,” Mr. Jagadeesha said.
Meanwhile, former Mayor Ayub Khan, during whose tenure the facility was made available, objected to the DMA’s decision. He said abrupt withdrawal of the connections would affect the functioning of the civic body. Instead of denying officials and councillors mobile phone connectivity, the MCC should restrict usage by fixing a monthly bill ceiling, he said.“If the bill amount crosses the ceiling, it can be deducted from the monthly honorarium of the councillor,” he said.
Mr. Khan said the matter has been brought to the notice of Minister for Urban Development R. Roshan Baig.
“The DMA is interfering too much in the functioning of the civic body. They have now started questioning even the decisions taken by council,” he said.
‘Will send fresh proposal’
The MCC will send a fresh proposal to the DMA for mobile phone connectivity to councillors and select staff of the civic body.
A number of telecom service providers have come forward to offer connections to the councillors and staff of the MCC at a very reasonable tariff, said Mr. Jagadeesha.
“I have asked the service providers to submit the quotations on May 2. I will send the same to the DMA for approval. Some service providers are offering us a tariff as low as ₹250 a month. It is up to the DMA to take a final decision,” he said.
Mr. Jagadeesha also said he would include with the quotations a list of MCC officials who require mobile phone connectivity. “I will have to draw up a fresh list of MCC officials eligible for it, depending on their nature of work. For instance, a revenue inspector or a UGD inspector needs mobile connectivity,” he said.
To a question, he said the MCC was incurring a bill of more than ₹2 lakh a month for the now-withdrawn facility.
