Stating that Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) will be among the city bodies to get a special grant of ₹200 crore as per the Karnataka budget for 2024-25, Urban Development Minister B. S. Suresh on February 17 asked the MCC to prepare an action plan within three months to make use of the grant.
Addressing councillors and officials of the corporation after unveiling a portrait of 12th century social reformer Basavanna at the civic body, the Minister said that the government had in 2023 sanctioned a special grant of ₹25 crore to the MCC. It will be released soon. Now, the MCC will get ₹200 crore more, he said.
“With the MCC going to get ₹200 crore, each of the 60 wards will get more than ₹3 crore for development projects,” the Minister said. He instructed the corporation Commissioner C. L. Anand to send the action plan for the government’s approval within three months.
A councillor from Surathkal East A. Shwetha informed the Minister that the links of underground drainage network behind the residential area of the National Institute of Technology – Karnataka (NIT-K) are missing, which pose problems to residents. Sewage water is overflowing through manholes.
Another councillor Sangeetha Nayak from Pachchanady ward told the Minister that there is an urgent need to upgrade the processing capacity of the tertiary treatment plant (TTP) and sewage treatment plant (STP) at Pachchanady. The TTP and STP were designed in 2009. They are unable to process the current quantity of sewage, as the number of houses in the ward have gone up over the years. Hence, sewage water is being let into the Phalguni river, she said.
In response, an engineer of the corporation said that a ₹40 crore plan for upgrading the TTP and STP was submitted to the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) on February 2 for approval.
The Minister promised to look into both the issues.
Mr. Suresh asked the councillors to list out the issues pertaining to underground drainage, water supply and roads in their respective wards, and submit them to the Commissioner of the civic body, who will take them up with the government for redressal.
