Mangaluru: Over seven years after its construction began, former union minister and senior Congress leader Dr M Veerappa Moily inaugurated the Mini Vidhana Soudha at the Taluk Office premises opposite Town Hall here on Sunday, November 22.
Built at a cost of Rs 10.26 crore, the building houses the taluk office, the office of the Assistant Commissioner, Mangaluru sub-division, offices of sub-registrar and land records, ‘padasale’ of revenue department, which were all housed in the Deputy Commissioner’s office premises until date and the office of cooperative audit.
Addressing the gathering, Moily said that in view of serving the public, it is good to have all taluk offices under one roof. He said that Mangaluru is one of the business hubs in the state and that the Siddaramaiah led government has undertaken appropriate measures to develop infrastructure here. He also said that the government has sanctioned Rupees two crore for the development of Ravindra Kala Bhavan at Mangaluru University.
Speaking further, Moily informed that a National Highway connecting Udupi to Shivamogga will soon be opened for traffic. He said that clearance had been issued during his tenure as the Union Minister for Corporate Affairs and the then Union Cabinet Minister for Transport, Road and Highways and Labour and Employment, Oscar Fernandes had also worked towards it. With this road widening, the distance between Shivamogga and Udupi will be reduced by approximately 70 kilometres, he said.
When the media questioned him about the Yettinahole project, Moily chose to ignore.
Mangaluru South MLA JR Lobo in his presidential speech said that with the inauguration of the Mini Vidhana Soudha, all old projects had been completed. “Henceforth, the government will focus on new projects with development being the motto,” he said.
The MLA gave a call to the officers reporting from the new office to be kind enough to the public and ensure that their needs are catered to. Remembering Moily’s contribution to Dakshina Kannada, Lobo said it was during his tenure as the Karnataka CM that he re-appointed SK Vyas as the district DC and brought out a special report based on which the government sanctioned Rs 1000 crore for the development of Dakshina Kannada.
MLC Ivan D’Souza urged the DC to clear off all the pending cases in the district as they would now be streamlined.
District In-Charge Minister B Ramanath Rai, Health Minister UT Khader, Sports Minister Abhayachandra Hegde, MLAs Moideen Bava and Shakuntala Shetty and opposition leader Capt Ganesh Karnik were present among others.