Mangaluru: During the press meet held at Mangaluru Press Club, Daniel Tauro-a NGO activist and also representing National Environment Care Federation (NECF) addressing the media persons said, ” We object the shifting of Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner’s Office to Padil, in the outskirts of the city due to certain reasons:The existing DC office is at a very convenient location and also has six acres of space. The existing building has plenty of facilities, nobody has pointed out any kind of problems or short comings with the current location of the DC office”.
“According to information gathered, no particular person or authority has pointed out any short comings of the current DC office. A decision to shift the DC office has not been taken by any competent authority. It is only mentioned that it has been: observed” “pointed out” to shift the DC office to Padil in the KDP (Pragathi Parisheelana Sabhe). The authorities at the KDP meeting which includes the in charge minister, do not have the authority to take the decision to shift the DC office”.
“Since he DC office comes under the Revenue Ministry, the Forest Minister, does not have the authority to order the shifting of the same. Even though the cabinet has recently approved the shifting, the original decision was not taken by a competent authority, and the RTC of the land at Padil was changed much in advance”.
“People coming to the current DC office have the advantage of finishing all office jobs in the city such as purchasing, paying bills etc, when they come for a particular purpose at the DC office, but if the DC office is shifted to Padil they will have to come to the city exclusively to finish their other jobs which will lead to waste of their precious time, money and energy”.
“The land at Padil where the construction of the new Dc office has been proposed, has more than 478 trees of different as well as rare species which provide food and shelter to various species of animals, birds and other creatures, According to the definition of deemed Forest under the Forest Conservation Act 1980, this land qualifies to be a deemed forest. Most of these trees will have to be cut down if the DC office is built here which will lead to destruction of our fragile environment. Trees in private lands are being cut down every second day for construction of houses, apartments and buildings. It is impossible to stop this due to our lenient laws. If we have to protect our nature we will have to ensure that at least the trees in the government lands are protected”.
“The current DC office was built just 25 years back, incurring a huge expenditure. The Govt plans to spend another 40 crores to build the new Dc office. Is it right to spend crores of public money every 25 years, when the govt does not have money to construct foot paths, drainage, markets, primary health care centers etc.? Is it right for the govt to spend 40 crores to build a new Dc office which is actually not required?” added Tauro.
He further said, “Though a suit has been filed in the court in this regard, we want to inform the people’s court through the media so that they get actively involved in the matter.The people need to voice their dissent to the government so that it changes its decision and scraps this project. Some people supporting the DC office shifting say that with the present location of the DC office there has been too much traffic in the City. If that’s the case why is the district administration allowing Malls to come up in the city, which attract more traffic and population. Malls should have been given permission in the outskirts of the City and not in the heart of the City”.
Dineh Pai- Social activist, Raghavan- President of NGO Okoota, Dinesh Holla-Environmental activist and Sashidar Shetty-Secretary of NECF were also on the dais during the meet.
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