MCC, Muda to clear weeds on vacant sites

Mysuru: Weed-infested vacant sites dotting the city collectively constitute a blot on Mysuru’s relatively tidy cityscape. In fact, many residents are of the opinion that the failure of the civic agencies to prevent dumping of garbage into these plots was among the reasons for the city missing out on the ‘Cleanest City’ title after having earned that distinction two years in a row. Allowing proliferation of weeds on vacant plots results in their turning into unofficial dumpyards, and the members of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Council appear to have finally taken note of the magnitude of the problem. At a meeting of the MCC Council on Monday, it was decided to initiate a drive, starting next week to clear weeds on vacant plots across the city.
Within MCC’s purview, a whopping 14,000 vacant sites are in need of clearing overgrowth of weeds, while the number stands at 3,000 in areas under the jurisdiction of the Mysore Urban Development Authority (Muda). Despite instructions from the civic agencies concerned to the owners of the sites, the properties have not been cleared of weeds and other garbage. MCC and Muda have decided to levy a cess of Rs 2/sqft on the owners for clearing the sites.
Corporator for Agrahara ward BV Manjunath asked why the MCC authorities had failed to clear weeds on vacant sites despite collecting Rs 7.5 crore from the owners of these properties. “The MCC must explain how it can collect money from the public as tax but not initiate work that the funds are earmarked for,” he said.
Deputy commissioner of the revenue department, Mysuru TB Kumara Naik told the corporator that tenders would be invited next week for clearing weeds from sites. “We will ensure that weeds are cleared at least once in four months,” he said.
Streetlight bulbs will be replaced by March ’20
SBM Manju, corporator for Gokulam, asked officials of the MCC to report on the status of the city-wide project taken up to replace sodium bulbs with eco-friendly LED lamps.
MCC’s electrical engineer Suresh said that a private agency had been given the tender to carry out a survey, and submit a report on the number of streetlights in the city. “The agency, to which the tender was awarded for Rs 35 lakh, has nearly completed the survey. Bulbs of the streetlights are being replaced under a public-private partnership (PPP) model using funds allocated by the state finance commission. The report mentions that as many as 2,461 streetlight poles do not have bulbs. I can assure the council that all the streetlights will be affixed with LED lamps by March 2020,” Suresh said.
However, when JD(S) and BJP corporators pointed to the problems faced by road users because of the ongoing replacement project, mayor Pushpalatha Jagannath directed the authorities concerned to ensure that defunct bulbs were replaced at the earliest.