Palemar firm on nationalising bus routes in district

12 private bus operators are not operating in rural areas

“The private bus operators are creating problems often without providing expected services to the public. If they do not rectify their mistakes, we are certainly going to nationalise all the bus routes in the district,” he said addressing the Karnataka Developmental Programmes review meeting at Zilla Panchayat here on Tuesday.
According to the Regional Transport Officer, a total of 12 private bus operators have been issued permits to operate buses to the rural areas in the Mangalore City Corporation limits, but they are not actually doing so. There was a proposal to cancel the licences and operate KSRTC buses on those routes.

Deputy Commissioner V Ponnuraj who is also the Chairman of the Regional Transport Authority said the proposal could not be executed as the Canara Bus Owners’ Association obtained a stay from the High Court preventing issuance of any new permits.
“The Transport Commissioner had proposed a new route formation at the State level, according to which the KSRTC buses could have been operated in place of private buses. But the private bus operators have brought stay against this,” he added. Reacting at this, Palemar said the only option to set right the situation is to nationalise all the bus routes in the district.

“A meeting will be conducted with the private operators  next week. If they are not willing to act as per the already issued permits, steps will be taken towards nationalising the routes,” he reiterated.

Indira Awaz scheme
The meeting decided to finalise the beneficiaries’ list of Indira Awaz scheme at the district-level itself without sending the same to the Rajiv Gandhi Housing Corporation, since the step delays the entire process.

MLAs K Abhaychandra and B Ramanath Rai complained that the progress of the housing scheme is too slow in the district. Abhaychandra said the Indira Awaz scheme is not being implemented in the district for the past two yers, while Rai said only 188 houses have been sanctioned for the Bantwal constituency in the past two years where there is a list of 2,285 people having no houses.
“The DC has the right to cancel ‘kumki’ rights of the landholders, which can be used for housing scheme,” he suggested.
However, the DC said ‘kumki’ rights can be cancelled in case the land is being used for a public purpose. “If there are plans to build a group of 15-20 houses at a single place, this right can be exercised,” he said.

The Assistant Commissioners were asked to set a target of disposing the Indira Awaz applications after obtaining fresh lists from the Taluk Panchayat Executive Officers.

Guidelines simplified
Answering a query from MLC Kota Srinivas Poojary, Minister Palemar said the guidelines of Ashraya scheme have been simplified for Dakshina Kannada district.
“Now, husband and wife can go for a joint registration without any expense. They can register by filing an affidavit on a stamp paper without paying any extra fee,” he clarified.

Report on vented dam
DC Ponnuraj said the survey report by the Water Board regarding the land need to be acquired for increasing the height of Thumbe vented dam will be received within a month.
“The MCC says only 62 acres will be submerged if the dam height increased to 7 mts, whereas the Water Board has estimated this as 175 acres. On the other hand, there are apprehensions among the locals that more than 250 acres will be submerged. There will be a clear picture once the joint survey report is received,” he said.

Mescom substations
Mescom Assistant Executive Engineer Maheshwarappa said the power sub-stations at Nandigudda and Kadri will be completed in the next three months. He said the ones at Alake and Bejai will be taken up once the first two are completed.
The DC asked the Mescom to instruct the owners of the commercial buildings to install the transformers within their premises, and not to cause inconvenience to the public since many of them are encroaching the footpaths.

Holidays

DDPI C Chame Gowda said the schools in Belthangady taluk will be given holidays on December 10, 11 and 12 in the backdrop of Vishwa Tulu Sammelan at Ujire. He said the schools in other taluks will get holidays one day each.
Palemar asked the PU Education Department to defer the PU examinations to be held from December 8 to 16 to some other days.
The KDP meet decided to declare November 27 as public holiday in the district for Bakrid instead of November 28.