MCC Revenue officer transfer: Meeting decides to meet minister
Mangaluru City Corporation general body meeting
Mangaluru, August 30: The transfer of senior officer in Revenue department, Praveen Chandra Karkera in the illegal hoarding removal issue rocked the general body meeting of the City Corporation here on Thursday.
After heated argument and objection from the opposition party in the meeting chaired by Mayor Bhaskar K, it was resolved to take a delegation comprising the members of both ruling and opposition parties to the Minister demanding reposting the officer who was already transferred to the corporation as there was shortage of officers.
Raising the issue, opposition member Sudhir Shetty said that the corporation has shortage of officers due to which only 33 per cent tax was collected. There were plenty of illegal hoardings in the city. Around Rs 7.25 lakh revenue should have been collected from the market parking areas and there was Rs 10 lakh dues from the Surathkal market. Because of the shortage of officers to collect the taxes, the corporation has been facing financial crunch. At this time, a senior officer was transferred in illegal hoardings removal issue, he alleged.
Mayor Bhaskar said that the Commissioner has ordered to remove the illegal hoardings. If the officer was transferred in that case, first the Commissioner should have been transferred, he asked.
When corporator Madhukiran asked to continue the removal of illegal hoardings in the city, the mayor said that a decision to this effect was taken in the previous meeting. At this moment, there was verbal duels between the members of the ruling and opposition parties. Ruling party members demanded cancellation of the transfer. Later, the Mayor decided to meet the Minister and apprise him of the need to cancel the transfer of the officer.
Members object street lights problem
Cutting across the party line, the corporators raised voice against the street lights problem in the city. Member Abdul Rauf demanded action against the contractor for not maintaining the street lights in the city. Members Appi, Revathi, Ashok DK, Purushottam Chitrapura, Akhila Alva, Asha D’Silva, Azeez, Rathikala, Surendra and others joined their voice. Commissioner Muhammad Nazeer directed the officers that if it was due to contractor, cancel his tender and blacklist him.
Member Appi who welcomed the decision of the city corporation in naming the town hall after Kudmul Ranga Rao, asked the authorities to celebrate his birth anniversary.
Deputy Mayor Muhammad K, Standing Committee President Praveen Chandra Alva, Naveen D’Souza, Radhakrishna, Latha Salian and others were present.
House number under 112C: Operation from Aug 31
The issue of giving house number under 112C which had become an issue in the previous meeting, also drew the attention of the members this time. Though it was decided in the earlier meeting to give numbers to the houses measuring 1000 sq ft under 112C after spot inspection, no action was taken even after one month, members Premanand Shetty and Sudhir Shetty objected.
When the mayor said that numbers were being given for residential houses, members objected to it. But the revenue officer said that under 112C, they have received only 13 applications and spot inspection of seven applications were over. But member Deepak Poojary said that some people have misused the provisions and took number for commercial buildings under 112C.
After prolonged discussion over the issue, Commissioner Muhammad Nazeer said that as per the direction of the Mayor, spot inspections would be conducted for 1000 sq ft residential houses and they would be charged double tax and this process would start from Friday.
War of words between present and former mayors
Former mayor Kavitha Sanil asked “Is the city corporation has dual standard for the rich and the poor”?
She said that the city corporation authorities have demolished a house belonging to an auto driver on 1.5 cent land at Pachanady Ashraya colony. But no action was taken against the buildings which do not have parking spaces. Though the court has directed the authorities to demolish 52 buildings which do not have parking space, the city corporation officers have not acted on it. Why the city corporation demolished the house of the poor auto driver, she asked.
Mayor Bhaskar Moily asked as to why the former mayor did not demolish the buildings. But Kavitha said that when she was the mayor, lot of raids and actions were taken. When the mayor took it lightly, both of them engaged in war of words for some time.
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'Explosion-like' sounds in Kerala village due to cracking of rocks, not dangerous: KSDMA
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 31: The "explosion-like" sounds, accompanied by tremors, that were heard in the Anakkallu area of Malappuram district a day ago, were apparently caused due to friction and cracking of rocks close to the surface of the earth, the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) said on Thursday.
According to a joint statement issued by the KSDMA and the District Disaster Management Authority in Malappuram, District Geologist, Ground Water Department Geologist and District Hazard Analyst conducted a site inspection where the noise and vibrations occurred on October 17, 18 and 29.
Based on the inspection, the KSDMA concluded the noise and vibrations were "caused by the friction and cracking of rocks close to the surface of the earth" -- a phenomena which has been reported in many parts of Kerala before -- and were generally not dangerous.
This phenomenon is often caused by subtle natural changes in the earth. They are also caused by the displacement of rocks due to groundwater utilisation and when air contained in small cavities inside the earth escapes through tube wells, KSDMA said in the statement.
It said a decision has been taken to subject the site to a geophysical survey to understand the structure of the area more accurately and for that the Kozhikode NIT has been contacted by the KSDMA.
Regarding the damage suffered by some buildings due to the vibrations, it said that the same was due to their "age and structural weakness".
The authority said that depending on the extent and pattern of the cracks suffered by the buildings, the damage can be repaired by an engineer for continued use.
Nearly 300 people were moved to safety after the "explosion-like" sounds accompanied by tremors were heard by them in Anakkallu area in Malappuram district on Tuesday night.
The first sound was reportedly heard at 9.15 pm on Tuesday, followed by two more at 10.15 pm and 10.45 pm along with mild tremors, and reportedly within a 2-km radius, causing panic among the local residents.
Local residents had said they heard alarming sounds similar to those heard from granite quarries at their place repeatedly accompanied by continuing tremors.
Cracks were also found to have developed in some houses in the area, they had said.
