Ministry of Urban Development to allocate grants to create Greater Udupi

Source: The Hindu
Ministry of Urban Development to allocate grants to create Greater Udupi

Vinay Kumar Sorake, Minister for Urban Development, said on Wednesday that the government would provide grants to expand the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) to Greater Udupi. He was speaking at a meeting here.

Mr. Sorake said Yembattu Badagabettu, Udyavara, Kadekar, Alevoor and Ambalpady gram panchayats on the outskirts of Udupi would be part of the new civic body. The Udupi CMC had been provided Rs. 85 crore under the Karnataka Urban Development and Coastal Environment Project and Rs. 30 crore under the Nagarothana Scheme. He said the government was considering a proposal to upgrade Brahmavar Gram Panchayat and Kaup Gram Panchayat into Town Municipal Councils by including some villages surrounding them.

When P. Yuvaraj, president of Udupi CMC, raised a question on staff shortage, Mr. Sorake said the government had given its nod to fill vacant posts in municipal corporations. In the next phase, the posts of staff in CMCs would be filled. A CMC engineer said water was being provided to Udupi from Baje and Shiroor dams and it was enough to cater to the needs of the city till March. But, it was difficult to provide water to Udupi daily from March to May, the official said.

Mr. Sorake said Rs. 35 crore had been allocated for drinking water in Udupi, while Rs. 50 crore had been earmarked for underground drainage system in the city. Detailed projects were being drawn up for both these projects. The work on both these projects would start in October, he said.

When Mr. Yuvaraj said two wet wells of the underground system were not performing properly, an official said this was due to interruptions in power supply. Mr. Sorake directed the officials of Mangalore Electricity Supply Company to solve this problem.

When the issue of solid waste management came up for discussion, Mr. Sorake said his department had released grants for setting up a unit to process solid waste. To this, CMC environment engineer said the implementation would be taken up soon after the monsoon. Mr. Sorake directed the engineer to follow the Chikmagalur model in waste segregation.