Visvesvaraya Building demolition issue dominates Udupi CMC meeting
Udupi: Heated arguments were witnessed between the ruling party leaders and opposition members on the issue of Visvesvaraya Building demolition and the proposed new building at the CMC Special meeting held at the Sri Sathyamurthy Auditorium, here, on September 21.
Raising the issue of the Visvesvaraya Building demolition and proposed new building, opposition leader Dr M R Pai demanded the ruling party to carry out the building work under public-private partnership (PPP) model. If the CMC builds it with its own funds, the municipality can get more income, he said.
The ruling party councilors objected Dr M R Pai’s proposal and said that the proposal has been passed during the 2010 February meeting when the BJP administration was ruling in the CMC. Soon heated arguments and war of words between members of ruling and opposition were witnessed.
Later clarifying on the issue CMC Commissioner Manjunthaiah said that the structure would come up under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. The proposal has been passed during the 2010 February meeting when BJP administration was ruling in the CMC. The facility report was passed in 2012 and work was allotted to IDEX a government Agency of Bengaluru. The complex would be in the ground+three format structure. A spacious parking area would be part of the construction. Currently, the land available for the proposed project is 26568 Sq ft. The CMC had called for a Pre-bid meeting chaired by the deputy commissioner in May 2016. We had also called for tenders from the construction companies giving publicity in the newspapers. As per the tender invitation, only two companies participated in the tender process.
One Developer failed to provide proper technical reports along with the tender and the project was given to another developer. The land will be given for a 30 year lease period. The building should comprise various divisions and compartments for hassle-free shopping. All essential commodities should be sold in the same building, he added.
The issue of poor maintenance of street lights, solid waste management system and stray dogs was discussed during the meeting.
Prior to the meeting the council observed one minute of silence and tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives in the Uri attack of Jammu and Kashmir.
Meenakshi Madhava president of CMC chaired the meeting. Sandhya Kumari, Prashanth Bhat and others were present.