Slaughterhouse: Khader accused of looting Rs 15 cr

Sanjeev Matandoor, BJP district president, has accused District In-charge Minister U T Khader of looting Rs 15 crore by demanding upgrade of the slaughterhouse at Kudroli in the city as a part of the Smart City project.

Matandoor, on Tuesday, accused Khader of appeasing a particular community and indulging in votebank politics by taking up a project on upgrading only the slaughterhouse. “Dakshina Kannada has witnessed many communal riots in the name of cow. Instead of protecting the gaushalas, the minister is going ahead with upgrade of the slaughterhouse,” he charged.

‘Leaders ignored’

“The guidelines for implementation of the Smart City project were not only violated but two MLAs and the Dakshina Kannada MP sidelined while finalising proposals,” he said, adding, “The funds could have been utilised to improve the infrastructure in the MCC, or the old port and fish markets could have been upgraded.”

Accusing Khader of running a ‘Tughlaq Darbar’, Matandoor threatened that all seven BJP MLAs, led by the local MP, would launch a protest.

Premananda Shetty, Mangaluru Smart City Limited (MSCL) director, said the projects should be taken up consulting the stakeholders. “Khader should have submitted the abattoir upgrade proposal to the mayor – instead, he wrote to MSCL managing director on August 16 on placing his four proposals in the meeting of board of directors,” said Shetty.

“I had objected to the abattoir upgrade proposal and had demanded that the proposals be first approved by the MCC Council before being placed before the Board of Directors. I had also listed my objections in a letter to the CMD of MSCL,” said Shetty.

Special purpose vehicle

He also accused Khader of misusing funds by forcing the special purpose vehicle to propose the upgrade of abattoir at an inflated cost.

He strongly felt the need for a full-time managing director for the Mangaluru Special Purpose Vehicle and a full-fledged advisory committee to prevent further such misuse of funds. “Mangaluru South and North MLAs and the MP should be included as directors for the special purpose vehicle,” Shetty urged.

BJP president walks out of PC

Sanjiv Matandoor, BJP Dakshina Kannada district president and Puttur MLA, staged a walkout of the press conference, leaving Mangaluru South MLA Vedavyas Kamath and BJP Corporator Premananda Shetty to tackle the reporters’ queries.

Matandoor seemed quite unprepared for the queries of the reporters and left the meeting on the pretext of attending programmes that required his presence.