Mangaluru: Congress leader Ivan D’Souza has challenged the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) Assistant Commissioner Akshy Shridhar to show him at least one work that has been completed in the last three-and-a-half years in the City under the Smart City Project aimed at beautifying and developing the City.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday June 24, he said that under the Smart City Project, which has been taken up at a cost of Rs. 598 Crore, no work is going on in the City except the removal of drains and construction of drains. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the cost of the works done so far and demanded MCC to display to the public the white paper with regard to the Smart City Project, he asserted.
Public opinion on the works to be done under the project was collected by the MCC before the start of the Smart City Project. After getting the opinion of 800 people, the then Corporation Commissioner was given a book to decide which works would be suitable but even after six years of the commencement of the work, the work is going on in a subjective manner as against public approval. When asked about the shoddy works going on, they evade and say it is either Gail work or Jalasiri work. A lot of land has been acquired for road widening at Hampanakatte but now by undertaking the works of park, useless circles, and speed-breakers, the roads are narrowed and they add that these are all experiments, D’Souza said and added, “I don’t understand what kind of strategy is this. He added that the Kadri Park was developed for real, however there is no proper parking facility for the people who come there.
Agnipath: Cong to hold Satyagraha on June 27
The Central Government’s Agnipath Scheme is a threat to the future of the youth and if 18-year-olds join the Army, their right to education will be curtailed, said Ivan D’Souza. The scheme does not specify the security for the future. As many as 75 per cent of the people who will out of the army after serving for four years do not have clarity with regard to their employment in the future. There are no answers in this scheme to the questions of whether it is possible for PUC students to shape their future, he noted.
As per the directions of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), will hold satyagraha on Monday June 27 in all the 224 Assembly Constituencies in the State, said Ivan and added that the secretaries of the State Legislative Assembly have instructed to hold the satyagraha. I will be participating in the satyagraha at Sirsi, said Former MLC Ivan D’Souza.
