‘Convert khatas of 147 parks into e-khatas’

Officials have been instructed to convert the khatas of 147 parks in town into e-khatas, MLA C T Ravi has said.

Ravi, who addressed the Janaspandana event in town on Saturday, said that most of the said parks were small in size. “Maintenance and development of such parks is difficult,” he said and, in order to protect the lung space, he directed the officials to make e-khatas.

“In the coming months, we hope to invite associations to maintain the parks,” he added.

A senior citizen requested Ravi to develop the Tilak Park exclusively for elderly people.

Ravi also expressed hope that funds will be set aside in the budget for the construction of a medical college, an engineering college and a polytechnic college in Chikkamagaluru, which had all been approved by the Cabinet in 2013. He also informed the gathering that land had already been identified for the three colleges.

Light and water

Switching off street lights and water pumps will be outsourced to an agency for 10 years under the centralised controlling and monitoring system (CCMS).

At the Janaspandana, the residents complained about the hardships faced due to the Amrut project, traffic chaos on the Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi roads, noise pollution from carpentry workshops in a residential locality near the Katri Mariamma Temple, pollution of Kotukere lake, irregular water supply to the Indira Gandhi Layout, lack of parking space in the KSRTC bus stand, street dog menace and dumping of garbage.

Mary Thomas highlighted how culverts with filthy water were affecting the health of senior citizens.

Suggestions

The residents also offered suggestions on improvement of facilities.

Senior citizen M N Sadakshari urged the legislator to construct a multi-storied building for parking vehicles and a park exclusively for children and senior citizens.

Veeresh requested the district administration to adopt a development plan for the town and the district.

Rs 32 lakh and still counting

Chikkamagaluru MLA C T Ravi said that as part of restoring and beautifying Dantaramakki Kere or Basavanahalli Kere, a Vivekananda statue was built at a cost of Rs 25 lakh. However the statue does not have any resemblance to Swamy Vivekananda. The hopes that some paint to the statue would make it look like Swamy Vivekananda also came dashing.

In order to make the statue resemble Swamy Vivekananda, Chikkamagaluru City Municipal Council had engaged an artist and had paid Rs seven lakh to make the statue a look like Swamy Vivekananda. But the artist fled the town with the amount and a case was registered against him in the local police station. Now, artists from Mangaluru with the help of Plaster of Paris are trying to undo the damage to the statue and make it look like Swamy Vivekananda.