Southern States - Karnataka   

Debris clearance exceeds allocation

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE March 24. With expenditure involved in debris clearance in the city exceeding the budgetary allocation, the city corporation today discussed re-approbation of funds for the work even as the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance and Audit, M.C. Chikkanna, took serious objection to the wilful violation of budgetary provisions. Though most councillors, particularly those from the Narasimharaja Assembly Constituency, were of the opinion that the programme had helped clear debris in their wards, Mr. Chikkanna sought an explanation on the reasons for exceeding the budgetary provision. Against the Rs. 10 lakh earmarked for debris clearance in the city, an estimated Rs 31.12 lakh had been spent on it till September 30, 2002. A discussion on the subject began when a proposal was tabled before the meeting to enhance the outlay for the programme to Rs. 40 lakh. There were also allegations from a section of the corporators that it had benefited only the wards in the Narasimharaja constituency. The Chamaraja and Krishnaraja constituencies had been ignored, the BJP corporator, Shivukumar, said.

However, the Congress corporator from Gayathripuram, Sandesh Swamy, claimed that the Chamaraja and Krishnaraja constituencies had asphalted roads unlike the Narasimharaja Assembly segment.

The former Mayor, Prakash, said clearance of debris was an obligatory function of the corporation. Such functions should get priority over discretionary functions. Even if the corporation had spent Rs. 65 lakh for clearing debris as against the Rs. 10 lakh allocated for the purpose, it was only fulfilling its duty.

He said the corporation was justified in spending a huge sum for clearing debris as the civic body collected debris removal charges while issuing building licenses. The leader of the ruling party, Dakshina Murthy, felt that the programme had brought relief to the residents of the city. Debris had been piling up for the past 10 years. The programme was beneficial to people, he said.

The former Mayor and leader of the Opposition, Narayan, refuted the observation that debris had not been cleared in the city for 10 years. Debris clearance programme was carried out when the Janata Dal was in power in the corporation. During his tenure as Mayor and the tenures of Janata Dal mayors, the debris clearance programme had been carried out, he said.

Anwarji, independent, said the corporation should adopt a lenient view towards the debris clearance programme. Vasudev (independent) sought to know why the subject was being discussed in the council instead of in the standing committee. Mr. Chikkanna said the corporation authorities needed to follow certain procedures while spending public money. He had written to the Mayor, indicating the need for re-approbating the allocation by calling fresh tenders. The letter was ignored. The request for increasing the allocation came at a time when the entire work was over and the contractor was waiting for his payment. The committee was not averse to increasing the allocation. Only, certain procedures should be followed strictly while dealing with public money, he said.

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