Congress questions MCC the need for seeking KUIDFC loan to take up minor development projects

The Congress members staged a protest, sat on dharna in the Well of the House and shouted slogans against the decision

The Opposition Congress in Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) council in the monthly meeting on Friday opposed the ruling BJP’s decision to seek ₹27.25 crore loan from the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) for taking up minor development projects in all the 60 wards.

The Congress members staged a protest, sat on dharna in the Well of the House and shouted slogans against the decision. Amid the pandemonium during the Question Hour, the Mayor Jayananda Anchan asked the Whip Premananda Shetty to read out the decisions taken by the council on the agenda tabled. As Mr. Shetty, a former Mayor, read out the decisions, the meeting came to an end without any debate on the agenda.

Earlier, raising the matter during the Question Hour, the Leader of the Opposition Naveen R. D’Souza questioned the decision of the Mayor to raise loan for taking up minor development projects such as to build retaining walls, constructing storm water drains, and for doing minor road works including asphalting short stretches of roads. “Does such works require loan?,” he questioned.

The other Congress members who joined Mr. D’Souza also questioned the Mayor for tabling the agenda at the behest of the MLAs of Mangaluru City South and Mangaluru City North Assembly constituencies.

The agenda on the matter said that the corporation proposed to take up 255 projects at an estimated cost of ₹38.89 crore. In that, ₹27.25 crore will be raised through loan from the KUIDFC and the remaining ₹11.66 crore will be borne by the corporation from its internal resources. The two MLAs had written to the corporation to take up the projects.

The Congress members said that by doing so the MLAs have hijacked the discretionary power of the Mayor on taking decisions. They said that the council members should have taken a decision on availing the loan and not MLAs. They demanded White Paper on the financial status of the corporation as the agenda mentioned that there was dearth of funds for taking up development projects.

Meanwhile, the Mayor had given approval for the agenda in advance in anticipation of the approval of the council. Irked over the decision, the Congress members who rushed to the Well of the House shouted that crores of money is being looted by the ruling party.