Mangaluru City Corporation fails to schedule council meet for March

Mangaluru: The Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has failed to schedule the monthly council meeting for March.
As per rules, corporators should be informed seven days prior to the scheduled date of the council meeting, and, till Sunday, none of the members were intimated. According to sources, the MCC has not scheduled the council meeting anticipating the declaration of the assembly election by the Election Commission.
Meanwhile, the Opposition Congress alleged that the BJP has not scheduled the council meeting to avoid embarrassment over possible discussions on a huge hike in property tax, garbage issue and other major issues affecting the citizens. In fact, the last monthly council meeting held on February 28, had witnessed pandemonium when the Congress opposed the recent hike in property tax.
Opposition leader Naveen D’Souza told TOI that there are many issues that need to be discussed in the council meeting. “The issue of increase in property tax under SAS needs to be discussed. Further, we also want to raise the garbage issue, the demands of pourakarmikas and city corporation’s decision to purchase vehicles for waste management. However, we have not yet received notice for the council meeting. They should have scheduled the meeting and issued notices to corporators before March 24. The meeting may be cancelled if the Election Commission makes notification,” he said.
Another Congress corporator AC Vinayaraj said, “They know that the garbage disposal and other issues may backfire during the assembly election. “They are worried that the opposition may raise major issues and it may lead to embarrassment for the BJP,” Vinayaraj said.
When contacted, Mayor Jayanand Anchan said that a notice for the council meeting was drafted, but anticipating the assembly election declaration, the date has not been scheduled. “We will consider finalising the date, if possible. If the election is declared, we cannot hold the council meeting,” he added.