Minister and Mayor offer Ganga Puja at Thumbay

Minister and Mayor offer Ganga Puja at Thumbay

Mangalore Today News

Mangalore, Feb 23: “I have achieved a lot during my one year as mayor of Mangalore, but I have achieved nothing alone,” said Mayor Shankar Bhat after offering “Ganga Puja” to the Nethravathi River at the Thumbay vented dam on Feb 23, Tuesday.

Interacting with media persons for the last time as mayor of Mangalore, he said that the water level has risen from 14 – 15 MGD to 34 – 35 MGD. He assured that the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) will soon be able to provide continuous water supply to all the areas coming under its jurisdiction from Thumbay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking about the achievements of MCC, the mayor said that the civic body has made a profit of Rs 18 crore and is aiming at Rs 24 crore for the coming financial year.

Speaking about MCC’s road-widening projects, the mayor said that the civic body has spend Rs 98.40 crore on concretizing 32 kms of the 36 kms marked for concretization. The civic body has also acquired 9 acres of private land for the project. The underground drainage infrastructure will be completed in 6 months. A sum of Rs 7 crore has been earmarked for asphalting. The mayor also said that infrastructure development projects have been undertaken at Bejai market, adding that the civic body plans to improve infrastructure at other markets in future.

The mayor also informed press people that Dicks Nelson, the mayor of Delta City, will be arriving at Mangalore to discuss its infrastructural development.

District-in-charge Minister Krishna J Palemar said that 20 months are required to complete the Thumbay vented dam and that the work will be completed in 2 years. Explaining that a lot of private land surrounded the Thumbay area, for which a survey had to be conducted to check the water and land levels. The MCC has decided to construct an additional water storage facility under the dam’s window system at a height of 7 meters. However, the civic body is ready to reduce the height to 6 meters if studies reveal that it might cause harm to the people living in the neighborhood.

The profits gained by the MCC from water bills and Akrama Sakrama schemes will be spent on infrastructure development. The MCC is currently working to provide a dust-free city to the people of Mangalore, said the minister.

MLA Yogesh Bhat said that MCC has successfully solved 90 percent of the drinking water problem and the rest of the 10 percent still remains a problem because of the topography of Mangalore. He also said that the MCC has several schemes since the city’s 60 divisions must be developed.

Chairman of the Coastal Development Authority B Nagaraj Shetty, Deputy Mayor Rajani Dugganna, former Mayor Shashidhar Hegde, State President of BJP Padmanabha Kottari, Opposition Leader Harinath, Revathi, Tilak Raj, Vijay Kumar, Commissioner of MCC Dr. Vijaya Prakash, Ganesh Hosabettu, and many others were present.