Councillors complain about overflowing manholes, poor maintenance of UGD network in city

New Commissioner of Mangaluru City Corporation C.L. Anand said a separate meeting will be held soon to discuss problems related to maintenance of underground drainage network

The new Commissioner of Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) C.L. Anand, who took charge on Wednesday, said that a separate meeting of councillors and officials will be held soon to discuss problems related to maintenance of underground drainage (UGD) network and find out a solution, in the city.

At the monthly meeting of the council, the Opposition Congress councillors said that the maintenance of UGD or sewer network has totally collapsed in the city.

Senior Congress councillor Lancelot Pinto said that many manholes in the city are now overflowing with the sewage flowing on the road and in the drains. “The maintenance has totally failed,” he said, urging the Mayor Jayananda Anchan to call an urgent meeting to address the problems.

Executive Engineer Naresh Shenoy told the meeting that of 21 wet wells in the city, three – at Abbakka Nagar, Faisalnagar and Bajal – are not functioning due to machinery problems which are being addressed.

In addition, many manholes built earlier using laterite stones have become weak or collapsed. He stressed on the need to have a separate consultant to look into the design and other aspects of UGD network.

Former Mayor and senior Congress councillor M. Shashidhar Shetty who lighted the parking (of vehicles) problems in the city said that the National Institute of Technology – Karnataka (NIT-K) should be consulted to find out a viable solution to the same.

Some councillors, including Whip Premananda Shetty, said that the traffic police are taking unilateral decisions on traffic related issues without consulting the corporation.