'Operation Tiger' to clear street vendors from today

The ‘Operation Tiger’ drive against unauthorised street vendors who have occupied footpaths in Mangaluru will commence on August 31, said Mangaluru City Corporation Commissioner Mohammed Nazeer.

Speaking at the monthly meeting on Tuesday, he said that teams have been constituted by the MCC to clear unauthorised street vendors, as street vendors selling their products on footpaths have been causing inconvenience to the public.

Earlier, corporator Poornima said that the Central Market area in Mangaluru has converted into a mess. There is lack of parking space in the market with unauthorised street vendors occupying the streets, she added.

Mayor Harinath ordered the eviction of all street vendors who obstruct pedestrians. “The City Corporation has identified 208 authorised street vendors, who were issued with ID cards. A final decision on authorised street vendors would be taken in a meeting within a week,” he added.

Road repair
When corporators pointed out the presence of a large number of potholes on the roads in the city, the mayor said that he has directed the executive engineers to take measures to fill the potholes immediately. To discuss the traffic woes in the city, the mayor promised to convene a meeting of road safety committee within 15 days.

Corporator A C Vinayraj said, “There are 174 borewells in the MCC areas. The tenders for maintenance of borewells were called in 2011, after which, no tender was invited.”
In response, executive engineer Linge Gowda promised to invite the tender within a week.

Water and food
The corporators said that Hoige Bazar, Bendoorwell, Mahakalipadpu, Bolar areas are facing water crisis in spite of the city getting good rainfall. The assistant executive engineer said that the work on flyover at Pumpwell Circle had been hampering the supply of water the last 15 days.

Speaking on the supply of food for the destitute at night shelter, Nazeer said that the MCC has spoken to Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, who in turn, has promised to get a sanction letter from the Department for the supply and MCC will also earmark fund for the purpose.

Cleanliness drive
In a move to keep the city clean and make it to the top in the Swachh Sarvekshana Survey of the Union government, the MCC is thinking of making wards to compete with each other for reward. The mayor said that the ward selected as the cleanest could be given more funds for development works. The winning ward would be awarded works worth Rs 25 lakh and Rs 15 lakh respectively.

The corporators, however, said that all the wards should be treated equally. “Some wards in interior areas are underdeveloped in comparison to wards in the heart of the city. The yardstick for announcing the award should be mentioned clearly,” they demanded.

The mayor promised to take a final decision after holding a meeting of the corporators within 15 days.