Issues on the Condition of Roads will be Solved by Discussing with MCC & NHAI’- DC Mullai Muhilan
Mangaluru: Addressing the media persons during the ‘Meet The Press’ programme at Mangaluru Press Club, Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner M.P. Mullai Muhilan said “The district tourism committee, headed by me, intends to launch a portal dedicated to the promotion of tourism. The portal should provide comprehensive information on the tourism destinations including beaches, the hospitality sector, seasonal events of the district and the like. The portal intended to be launched should help to market Dakshina Kannada by creating a brand. There is a need to prepare a calendar of tourism events by having fixed dates. The tourism circuit should be prepared to help tourists visiting the district from outside.
“An ecosystem should be created for the tourism sector to thrive and the local stakeholders should join hands in making the portal an integrated one. Regarding the conditions of the City roads and NH, I will inspect the stretches of national highways passing through the city limits with the officials of Mangaluru City Corporation, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and police soon to address traffic-related, road safety and other issues. Both the NHAI and police have listed out the issues to be addressed. Some can be addressed immediately while there are some issues which need more time for resolving. I have asked the NHAI project director and the MCC commissioner to prepare a list of unresolved issues about the road. The city police commissioner has already given a list of issues that need to be looked into. The NHAI cannot have a project execution mindset alone. The inspection will be followed by a study to provide long-term solutions.’’
Meanwhile, the DC also assured that in the next RTA meeting, issues related to operating KSRTC buses in the city, electrical auto rickshaws and other transport-related topics will be discussed. Mullan said that he will try to have a special team of officials to address issues about revenue matters. Technology can be made used for identifying revenue and forest land for a clear demarcation. The Deputy Commissioner said that a team of the district administration comprising himself will visit each taluk headquarters, on rotation, on a given day in a week to address the grievances of people starting from the second week of August.
He further said, “The administration is planning to use GPS technology to resolve various issues related to forest and revenue land. A special team is likely to be deployed for the purpose. The issue of RTC of land owners in Shiradi, Bilinele and Siri Bagilu, mentioned as partly forest, is posing problems to the owners in availing benefits from the government, which was also brought to the notice of the DC. He said that a behavioural change is also required to check issues such as the unscientific cutting of hillocks. From this month, the DC and a team from his office will visit the taluk headquarters once a week, to assist people from distant areas, eliminating the need for them to travel to the DC’s office in person. A schedule will be prepared for the same”.
“The visits will also be extended to the hobli headquarters. Upon being informed that PDOs and VAs were handling additional charges for five-gram panchayats, the DC stated that he will instruct the ZP CEO to create a schedule ensuring their presence in each gram panchayat on specific days of the week. This measure aims to prevent inconvenience to villagers and streamline the accessibility of these officials. According to the DC, the district has a 40km long coastline, with 15.2 km of it being affected by sea erosion. Permanent measures to address sea erosion have been implemented along a 9.2km stretch. About Rs 87 crore is required to take up permanent works on the remaining stretch, additionally, temporary measures, such as boulder dumping, will require around Rs 3 crore to mitigate the issue.
Referring to the new Deputy Commissioner’s office complex project coming up at Padil, DC Muhilan said that it required Rs 32 crore more for completion and Rs55 crore has already been spent on the building. The government in the 2023-24 Budget, presented by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has announced that funds will be allocated for completing the pending DC office complex projects in the State. It included the project in Mangaluru too.
