Mangaluru: Mayor Sudheer Shetty Kannur announced that the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) will appoint night gangmen to respond to any rain damage during the night in the city. At a special meeting on Friday to discuss monsoon preparedness, the mayor encouraged corporators and the public to report rain-related issues to incident commanders.
“The city corporation will deploy one earthmover for every two wards. The contact number of incident commanders will be shared with the public. Any natural disaster can be prevented if officials and staff work in a coordinated manner,” the mayor said.
MCC commissioner Anand CL stated that engineers have been deputed as incident commanders for all 60 wards to address rain damages and find solutions to various issues during the rainy season.
Corporators from both the ruling party and opposition raised complaints about officials not responding properly. They reported issues such as flooding in low-lying areas and overflowing underground drainage. Corporator Naveen D’Souza highlighted the impact of artificial flooding on houses and shops near Pumpwell, Kottara Chowki, and other areas. Corporator Sangeetha R Nayak noted the failure of MCC staff to remove a tree near an anganwadi in Vaidyanatha Nagar. Another corporator, Kiran Kumar Kodikal, stressed the need for constructing retaining walls for rajakaluves (stormwater drains) and demanded desilting to prevent artificial flooding.
The mayor requested lists of areas where desilting is needed. Chief whip of the ruling party in the MCC council, Premanand Shetty, pointed out the lack of coordination among officials and urged for regular coordination meetings. He also mentioned issues arising from road digging for development works in the city.