‘Top secret’ MUDA meeting held behind closed doors

Mysore/Mysuru: The last Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) general meeting was held at the MUDA meeting hall on June 22, 2022 and after that no meeting was held as the urban development body did not have a Chairman. As a result, several pro-people projects were kept pending. 

With the State Government still deliberating on who will become the next MUDA Chairman in the wake of many competitors for the plum post, Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra, who is the head of MUDA in the absence of the Chairman, chaired a general meeting this morning. It is for the first time in the recent past that a DC is chairing a MUDA meeting that is usually presided over by a Government nominated Chairman.

However, today’s MUDA meeting was not open for the media and was held behind closed doors. The door was kept locked and a board was hung on its front indicating that no one was allowed inside as the meeting proceedings were on.

Usually, media is allowed inside such meetings and in the past MUDA meetings, there was a presence of media persons. But this time, only photographers were allowed to click pictures and they were soon asked to leave the place.

Security personnel were posted at the entrance of the meeting hall to allow only members, officials and elected representatives inside.

The last MUDA meeting that was held on June 22 took some key decisions. Though the meeting was scheduled three times thereafter, they had to be postponed for one reason or the other. Today’s day-long deliberations are expected to clear or approve more than 350 subjects.

Though the subjects that are likely to come up in the discussion were kept under wraps, Star of Mysore learnt from sources that many pending projects like the ones on change of land use, sanction of bit of land, sanction of alternative sites, approval of new layouts and allotment of over 150 Civic Amenities (CA) sites would be discussed.

Other issues that are likely to be approved are new roads, water projects and some of the projects that were pending from the last MUDA budget. Approval for Rs. 12 crore Ring Road lighting project will be sought and a basic structure for the next budget will be prepared along with the proposed fund allocation.

This apart, the meeting will discuss the proposals put forward by the City Planning Section, Engineering Section and the Land Acquisition Office.

MLAs Tanveer Sait, S.A. Ramdas, L. Nagendra and B. Harshavardhan, MLCs Dinesh Gooligowda, Madhu G. Madegowda, A.H. Vishwanath, Dr. D. Thimmaiah, C.N. Manjegowda and Marithibbegowda, MUDA Commissioner G.T. Dinesh Kumar, Town Planner Member Shesha, Superintending Engineer Channakeshava and other officers were present.