Pramod Madhwaraj, Congress leader and former Minister, said on Wednesday that the BJP was misleading people on the achievements of the Congress in Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) in the last five years.
Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Madhwaraj said that unlike the BJP which had ruled the CMC from 2009-13, the Congress rule in the CMC from 2013-18 had not attracted charges of corruption. When the BJP left power, there were 8,500 tap connections in the city, it had now gone up to 18,500 connections. In the last five years, water scarcity during summer had been addressed to a large extent, whereas during the BJP rule, water was provided through water tankers, he said.
The BJP’s charge that the Trade Licence Fee had been increased recklessly was wrong. The fee had been fixed at ₹100 in 1965. Hence it was revised on the basis of square foot of shops and business establishments. This meant that small shops paid less, while the big shops paid more. Even after this increase, the fee collected was a mere ₹60 lakh annually.
The BJP had brought grants of ₹125 crore from the State government during its rule in the CMC from 2009-13, but in the last five years, the Congress government had provided grants of ₹503 crore. It was due to these grants that works on drinking water supply and the underground drainage system had been taken up, he said.
To a query, he said that extraction of sand in Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and non-CRZ areas in the district required permission from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). The elected representatives of the BJP should pressurise the MoEF to give permission for it, he said.
To another query, Mr. Madhwaraj said that Minister for Women and Child Welfare, Jaimala, who is also Udupi district in-charge Minister, had campaigned for the party here for a couple of days for Udupi CMC polls and her campaigning had been effective.
