JOIN USMCC to call fresh tender for water bill collection
Disclosing the same at the MCC monthly meet on Thursday, Mangalore City Corporation Commissioner Dr Vijayaprakash said that the government has approved the proposal and fresh tender will be called keeping in mind the loopholes and mistakes in the water bills, being issued by Prasanna Technologies, the agency which is engaged in water billing in Mangalore. The re-tendering procedure will be completed within 20 days.
Corporator Shanker Bhat said that according to a survey, there are 70,000 water connections in the Mangalore City Corporation limits, of which 60,000 connections get the bills but only 30,000 pay the water bills.
He said that according to a team, which visited the city to inspect water supply condition here, a sum of Rs 5 lakh gets wasted in the form of leakage and illegal water connections between Thumbay and Mangalore.
Corporator James D’Souza said that there is a need to probe into the illegal water connections from Thumbay vented dam. Opposition members Deepak Poojary, Ashok D K and Shashidhar Hegde said that they would support the MCC if it takes steps to disconnect illegal connections. They said that many residents continue to get faulty water bills. Even after submitting applications for setting right the water bills, no action had been taken so far.
They demanded the Corporation to take steps to set right the faulty water bill issue at the earliest.Corporator Naveen D’Souza urged the authorities to blacklist Prasanna Technologies.
Meanwhile Dr Vijayaprakash suggested setting up of a call centre to set right the grievances related to the water supply and water bills. He said that setting up an ATM kiosk will enable the residents to pay the bill at any time of the day directly. To a query, he said that a sum of Rs 120 lakh has to be collected from Ullal region alone for supplying drinking water from Thumbay.
‘No development work’
Members Harinath and Shashidhar Hegde said that no development work are being undertaken in the City corporation limits for the last several months. The interior roads are in deplorable condition and the funds, which were available for the interior roads have been diverted for the concreting of the roads, they alleged.
Corporator Mariamma Thomas alleged that there was discrimination in the allocation of funds among the corporators.
Meet on CRZ
Corporator Ganesh Hosabettu said that 19 wards in the Mangalore City Corporation are affected by the Coastal Regulation Zone notification. An expert meeting should be convened immediately to collect opinion and to make necessary modifications on the notification to be submitted to the Centre. The Commissioner said that a special meeting will be convened on November 2, at 11 am to discuss on the CRZ at MCC hall. The meet will be chaired by MCC Mayor Rajani Dugganna.