‘Stop Poking Your Nose in Auction of 28 Commercial Complexes’- Former Mangaluru North Constituency MLA Moideen Bava tells present Mangaluru North Constituency MLA Dr Bharath Shetty, during a press meet
Mangaluru: A move by rural development and panchayat raj department officials to auction 28 commercial complexes over which two-gram panchayats — Gurupura and Kandavara — have laid claims, has taken a political turn. Former elected members of Kandavara gram panchayat, while assailing the move, said Yashwanth Belchada, panchayat development officer (PDO) backtracked on an assurance given to authorities, including police, in going ahead with the auction.
Addressing the media persons during a press meet held at Mangaluru Press Club, former Mangaluru North Constituency MLA Moideen Bava said, “The elected body in its last meeting before its term ended had adopted a resolution to defer the auction process given the current economic situation. Acting on representation from then GP members, EO of Mangaluru taluk panchayat and administrator of the panchayat were scheduled to undertake spot inspection of the area on August 25 before the auction”
He further said, “The PDO in a complete volte-face, went ahead with the auction after assuring all stakeholders concerned that the panchayat would not do so on Friday. Those who have bid for the commercial complexes have been asked to pay upfront rental advance for 11 months by Tuesday (Today, 25 August) against RDPR department norms of six months, which is an inhumane gesture in the present economic scenario”. Questioning the PDOs haste in auctioning the complexes when one of the previous tenants there had moved the court and also in face of taluk panchayat resolution directing the EO to settle the issue over jurisdictional claims of the two panchayats, Bawa alleged PDO and the in-charge administrator were acting at the behest of Dr Bharath Shetty, Mangaluru City North MLA. Dr Shetty dismissed the charges as a figment of his predecessor’s imagination.
Mrs Vijaya Suvarna-former president of Kandavara gram panchayat, U P Ibrahim- president ZP Gurupura, Sachin, Sunil and Surendra-all members of Gram Panchayats were present on the dais during the press meet.
