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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BIT to host ‘Talent Hunt 2025’ with scholarship opportunities for aspiring engineers, architects
Mangaluru: Bearys Institute of Technology (BIT), in association with Bearys Enviro – Architecture Design School (BEADS), is set to conduct Talent Hunt 2025, an in-house entrance examination aimed at identifying and nurturing exceptional talents among aspiring engineering and architecture students.
The event is scheduled to be held on Saturday, 12th April 2025, beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the Bearys Knowledge Campus (BKC), near Mangalore University in Innoli, Mangaluru.
According to a release from the institute, II PUC Science students can earn scholarships of up to 100% on tuition fees, rewarding merit and potential in the fields of Engineering and Architecture.
Notably, all participants will be granted a minimum 10% scholarship, ensuring that every student benefits from the program.
In order to register, students are required to send an SMS containing their Name, College, and Location to 7259661177.
The last date for registration is 10th April 2025 by 5:00 p.m. For further details, interested candidates can contact the helpline at +91 99000 66888.
