Phone-in: Citizen pulls up Mayor over collapse of riverfront project retaining wall

Phone-in: Citizen pulls up Mayor over collapse of riverfront project retaining wall

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, June 28, 2024: The phone-in programme by City Mayor Sudhir Shetty Kannur on Friday turned out quite interesting when a concerned citizen raised the issue of the collapse of the retaining wall constructed as part of the Netravathi River Front Project by the Mangaluru Smart City Ltd and took the mayor to task.

The caller Jayaprakash said not only CRZ rule has been violated but crores of tax payers’ money is being wasted. He said there were suspicions about corruption and asked why this project cannot be stalled.

Responding to the caller, the Mayor said this water front project was the reason why Mangaluru got the Smart City Project. HJ said the works were undertaken after the DPR for the development of a 2.1 km road from Ullal Netravathi bridge upto Bolar was taken up. The collapse of the retaining wall has been brought to the attention of the Smart City Board meeting. The NGT team has already visited and has stayed the work. The contractor concerned will rebuild the retention wall. It has been instructed to withhold the payment, the Mayor said.

To a question why the MCC has not supervised the quality of works, the Mayor said it was the duty of the MSCL to do so.

Citizens who called the Mayor also raised various civic issues. During one of the calls, the Mayor said officials have been instructed to clear the footpaths of street side vendors considering the inconvenience caused to pedestrians.