How much will it cost to get an illegal water connection from the main supply lines of Mangaluru City Corporation between Thumbe and Padil?
When the issue of disconnecting illegal water supply lines from the main supply lines came up in the council meeting of the civic body on Saturday, the former Mayor Mahabala Marla did made a point. According to his knowledge a person is an expert in providing illegal connections. He demands Rs. 20,000 per connection. The Mayor did not reveal who the person is. Mr. Marla said that removing illegal connections is the need of the hour to augment more water to Mangaluru city as half of water pumped to city from Thumbe vented dam lost in theft.
More than words
Politicians like taking officials to task at review meetings and general body meetings of local bodies. But sometimes they also praise officials. However, at the general body meeting of Udupi Taluk panchayat held on August 24, Bhaskara, Taluk Panchayat member from Padubidri, went a step ahead.
He not only lauded the engineer from Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (MESCOM) but also went and garlanded him for responding swiftly to a problem. Not only that, he also presented him with a memento. “We want all officials to be like this. We should felicitate those who do good work,” he said for the good measure.
— RAVIPRASAD KAMILA and GANESH PRABHU