Mangaluru: The members of the Bharatiya Janata Party staged a protest in front of the Mangalore City Corporation demanding the appointment of the Commissioner here, on June 22.
Addressing the protesters, former district minister in-charge Krishna J Palemar said that under the guise of the Golden Jubilee of Town Hall, the then Mayor Mahabala Marla blindly gave the contract for renovation of the Town Hall to the Nirmithi Kendra. “So far, nothing positive has been done. Now, the Town Hall is in a pathetic condition. The chairs which have been removed and thrown outside have been totally damaged due to rains. The renovation work has been completely neglected by the Mangalore City Corporation. In the general meeting which was held in MCC, our councillors questioned about the renovation of the Town hall, but they did not get a proper answer. Many organizations protested against the pathetic condition of the Town hall, but so far no action has been taken. This shows the total failure of the administration,” he said.
“The funds which were sanctioned during the tenure of the BJP for the development work have also not been utilized in a proper manner. Even in the 9/11 form issue, the state government did not make any relaxation but is spreading false rumors in this regard. Their leaders are spreading lies. Within 15 months of the Congress rule in the MCC, already three commissioners have been transferred , which shows that the Congress party does not want any efficient officer for the MCC as Commissioner.” He demanded the appointment of an efficient Commissioner to the MCC as soon as possible.
Addressing the protesters, Monappa Bhandary said, “Many Congress leaders speak nonsense, and give false hopes to the people. Before the elections, the Congress leaders made a number of promises and gave false hopes to the people but they failed to live up to their promises. Janardhan Poojary had said that he will not allow an increase in the Self-assessment tax but now it has been increased. He also said that he will not allow the transfer of Hephsiba Rani Korlapati because she is a transparent and able commissioner. But Hephsiba has been transferred and Poojary did not even speak a word about it. Why did Poojary allowed Hephsiba to be transferred from the MCC?
Monappa further said that Congress leaders are liars. “Ramanath Rai, U T Khader, Moideen Bava and J R Lobo only tell lies. Ivan D’Souza is a big liar. During the GP elections, Ivan said that the Congress candidates will win with a huge margin but he failed in his assurance and BJP won most of the seats.”
He also said that the condition of the Town Hall is miserable. “People are facing severe problems since they do not have any other government halls to organize programmes. Even the government programmes are organized in some other places. Marla was thinking that if he renovated the Town Hall during his tenure, he would get a big name. So he blindly sanctioned funds to the Nirmithi Kendra, but his calculations failed. The renovation work of the Town Hall has been stalled from the past 10 months. Now, the new Mayor is not holding any meetings in this regard.”
“Former Commissioner Ajith Kumar Shanadi was performing his duties with transparency. He was transferred when he was on training. Later, Prasanna was made the Commissioner, but he too was transferred within an hour after he took charge as Commissioner. After waiting for many months, Hephsiba Rani was appointed as the Commissioner but she was transferred within 5 months. Hephsiba was against the mismanagement of government funds. Moideen Bava was distributing government funds among his family members and pressuring Hephsiba to sanction the funds. When she refused, Bava complained against the Commissioner with the CM and made him to issue her transfer order. Now, there is pressure on the Assistant Commissioner Gokuldas by the Congress leaders to sanction the funds. Without the Commissioner, MCC is in a pathetic state. No development work is being carried out. Now, the Monsoon season is on and we do not have proper rain water drains, no proper footpaths and roads. We need an able leader to lead the MCC.”
“The Chief Minister should appoint an able Commissioner to the MCC as soon as possible. If a Commissioner will not be appointed, we will intensify our protest,” he warned.
BJP leaders Umanath Kotian, Yogish Bhat, Ravishankar Mijar, Rajani Dugganna, Sudhir Shetty and others were also present.
