The delay in the renovation of the town hall rocked the monthly meeting of the Mangaluru City Corporation on Monday with the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party stalling the proceedings for about half an hour.
As soon as the meeting began, the BJP members rushed to the well and squatted there urging the ruling Congress to complete the works, started nine months ago, at the earliest.
Both the ruling and the Opposition members exchanged heated words.
Mayor Jacintha Vijaya Alfred promised the members that the works would be over in four months from now and appealed to the Opposition members to return to their seats.
She said that the first stage of works for Rs. 99.75 lakh assigned to the Nirmiti Kendra, which had come to a halt, would be completed soon. It included laying granite flooring in the hall and rooms, the construction of the green room and VIP room, and some interior works. No more works would be assigned to it.
The Mayor said that the remaining works would be completed by calling four short-term bids . Of them, she had given approval in advance for calling short-term bids for two works anticipating that the council would not oppose it.
The protesting members returned to their seats later cautioning that if the works did not see any progress within a month, they would stall the next meeting.
The council agreed with the in-advance approval given by the Mayor for two works.
It included replacing the stage curtain, stage lighting, sound system, acoustics and construction of a ramp for Rs. 98 lakh and fixing new seats at an estimated cost of Rs. 60 lakh.
N. Shiva Shankar Swami, Deputy Commissioner (Development) and Superintending Engineer of the corporation, told the council that the electrical works, installing generator and a CCTV system would cost Rs. 55 lakh and air-conditioning works would cost Rs. 48 lakh. The approval of the standing committee for town planning improvement would be enough for it. Its approval would be obtained to them soon .The BJP members criticised the Congress for what they termed as their failure to handle the issue and ensure that the renovation was completed ahead of the golden jubilee of the hall in December-end, 2014.
