Case against MCC for taking up construction activities at parks in all the 65 Wards to be referred to Lokayukta

Mysore/Mysuru: Illegal buildings coming up in parks, delay in issuing e-khata and title deeds and people being taken for a ride by House Building Co-operative Societies by not allotting sites, were prominent among various complaints lodged with Upa Lokayukta Justice K.N. Phaneendra on the opening day of three-day public grievance redressal meeting held at Zilla Panchayat (ZP) Hall in city yesterday.

Kiran of Mysuru alleged that “Despite Court order restricting the construction of any buildings at parks, Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) itself has violated the order by taking up construction activities at all the parks in 65 Wards of the city. It has been proving a hurdle for walkers in the parks.”

The buildings are constructed illegally at the parks in Vijayanagar first, second and third stages. Similarly, most of the parks have orphanages, houses and other structures, utilising the space for other purposes. A complaint has been given to MCC Commissioner and Zonal Officers in this regard, but to no avail, Kiran said.

Replying, the Upa Lokayukta, who admitted the complaint for inquiry, also stated that the case will be transferred to Lokayukta.  

C. Raju, G.C. Dasa Shetty, H.C. Bhagyamma and others, residents of a layout developed by Kanaka House Building Cooperative Society, showed video clippings and alleged that “a part of the road in the locality has been developed into a site and sold, thus reducing the width of the road. It has been proving a hurdle for traffic and whoever has raised a question in this regard has had to taste the wrath of goondas. Though a complaint was given to the Police, they even refused to register a case.”

Justice Phaneendra directed the Police to register a case against the accused and take action against the guilty. The complaint will be taken up to inquire into the charges of dereliction of duty against the Police and also a probe will be ordered into the negligence of Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).

Shivakumar alleged that though a site has been allotted to him, the Officers are not showing him the location, while Panchayat Development  Officer (PDO) and  Gram Panchayat Officers are not sanctioning the plan to build the house.

Nataraj of Ankanahalli, Chamarajanagar district, complained about being deprived of his retirement benefits.

In his complaint, M.S. Praveen of Karnataka Rashtra Samiti (KRS) alleged that “The Assistant Engineer at MUDA has been demanding bribe for every works including that of issuing the plan. The amount of bribe has been fixed for each work. I have also applied for plan approval and is deliberately being delayed for not greasing their palms.”

The Upa Lokayukta directed the complainant to file the complaint along with the name of the Assistant Engineer and the specific case in which the bribe was demanded.

The other complaints were about non-availability of facility of door-to-door garbage collection despite paying the cess for the last 20 years, supply of borewell water for drinking purpose to the residential layouts outside Outer-Ring Road (ORR) junction and reluctance on the part of MCC authorities to provide basic amenities, as the layouts coming under the jurisdiction of MUDA still remain to be handed over to the local body.