Minister proposes merger of civic bodies for Greater Mysuru development

NT Correspondent

Mysuru: District in-charge minister H C Mahadevappa, who held a meeting with officials on Monday, instructed them to look into the issue of constituting Greater Mysuru by merging civic bodies in the vicinity of Mysuru with Mysuru City Corporation.

With the term of the MCC council set to end in five months, the minister asked the officials to extend the limits of the city by merging adjoining areas. As Mysuru is developing fast, creation of a greater civic body would help for overall development under one agency, he said.

Earlier, MLA Tanveer Sait who raised the issue of constitution of Greater Mysuru said this was better than creating four Town Panchayats like Bogadi, Srirampura, Kadakola and Ramnanahalli, besides one CMC comprising Hinkal, Koorgalli, Belavadi and Koorgalli.

This would result in haphazard growth of the city as these civic bodies would adopt their own guidelines, he said. “Increasing the Mysuru City Corporation wards from the existing 65 to around 100 wards by merger of the newly constituted urban local bodies with Greater Mysuru is the best option’ ‘, he said.

The minister also directed the MCC commissioner to look into the complaints pertaining to roads, underground drainage and water supply lines that were damaged by the central agency AG&P Pratham India, the city gas distribution arm of the Singapore-headquartered AG&P Group that has bagged the tender to supply piped gas for Mysuru.

The MCC has permitted this agency to lay 45 kms of piped cooking gas lines in its limits. He also wanted the MCC to expedite the process of clearing 7lakh tons of waste that has piled up in waste treatment plants near the Sewage Farm and to ensure drinking water to all households.

Mahadevappa instructed the deputy commissioner and revenue department officials to clear encroachments in both the city and all taluks. The district minister also expressed his displeasure against the District Administration and Zilla Panchayat for not conducting Karnataka Development Programmes in the last six months.