Second MUDA meeting within a month; MLAs and MLCs attend

MUDA board meets for the second time this month under new chairman amidst handing over of residential layouts.

Just three weeks after the crucial board meeting of the ‘scam-hit’ Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), the members of the board met again on Saturday for the second time this month. Deputy Commissioner G. Lakshmikanth Reddy, chairman of the authority, presided over the meeting.

Also, this is the second MUDA meeting after Mr. Reddy took over as the chairman following the resignation of K. Mari Gowda from the post. This is also the second MUDA meeting after the authority was hit by the alleged irregularities in the allotment of sites under 50:50 ratio.

Saturday’s meeting assumes significance amidst the handing over of more than 200 residential layouts to various local bodies and the Mysuru City Corporation. Out of 900 private layouts identified, about 200 layouts are being handed over to the local bodies while the remaining will be transferred by December. The handing over has begun, with some local bodies formally receiving the MUDA documents.

The meeting was attended by MUDA Commissioner A.N. Raghunandan, G.T. Deve Gowda, Tanveer Sait, Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda, K. Harish Gowda, T.S. Srivatsa, Darshan Dhruvanarayan, MLAs, A.H. Vishwanath, Vivekananda, C.N. Manje Gowda, Thimmaiah, Dinesh Gooli Gowda, MLCs, and other elected representatives.

The practice of MUDA issuing khatas to the properties in MUDA developed and MUDA approved layouts has ceased following the handing over the layouts to the local bodies, who shall now issue Khatas, plan approvals and so on.

However, some members wanted to know whether the MUDA took steps for handing over the private layouts approved by it to various local bodies such as Bogadi Town Panchayat, Hootagalli City Municipal Council, and others after cross-checking the infrastructure in those layouts since many layouts lack basic facilities like roads, drainage system and so on. With over 900 layouts identified for handing over to the local bodies, it was opined that MUDA examine the infrastructure and then initiates the process so that the residents do not face problems.

None of the local bodies have elected representatives and have also faced fund crunch since they were established only a few years ago. The local bodies were in the process of improving their revenue. However, there is also an opinion that if the private layouts are brought under their purview, the local bodies would get revenue in the form of property taxes.