After Council members of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation made allegations of corruption against municipal officials in the monthly general body meeting on Friday, Hubballi-Dharwad Mayor Iresh Anchatageri clarified that corruption will not be tolerated and asked Municipal Commissioner B. Gopalkrishna to inquire into the charge and submit a report within 15 days.
The Mayor’s ruling came after a prolonged discussion on mobilising additional resources for increasing revenue of the municipal corporation when the issue was raised by the former Mayor Viranna Savadi through a calling attention motion, during which allegations of corruption were made.
BJP councillor Satish Hangal made allegations against Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) while another councillor Santosh Chavan and floor leader Thippanna Majjagi joined him accusing him of keeping files pending for no reason. The councillors also objected to the officers giving replies taking the names of councillors and said that the official should address the Mayor and not councillors.
Replying to the allegations, Dr. Gopalkrishna also clarified that no type of corruption, whether collusive or coercive, will be tolerated and that it is non-negotiable.
He sought the cooperation of the councillors in dealing with the issues of corruption by giving information regarding malpractice.
While issuing the ruling after the discussion, the Mayor asked the municipal commissioner to hold the inquiry against the official concerned and submit the report within 15 days.
Action to be taken
The Mayor also made it clear that in case of any complaint of corruption and malpractice, the respective heads of the departments and zonal heads will be held responsible and action taken.
Mr. Anchatageri ruled that the heads of the 12 zonal offices of the corporation should complete the work on e-swattu in 100 days. Taking exception to indiscriminate road cutting by various companies, he said that the corporation from here onwards shall collect a fee for repairing the entire road instead of just road cutting charges.
He also thanked Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for releasing a grant of ₹191 crore for works in Huballi-Dharwad.
Earlier, responding to the issues raised during the discussion on the calling attention motion, Dr. Gopalkrishna said that the “Our city Clean city” initiative will help in identifying more property that can be brought under the tax net and increase revenue.
Admitting that there is a need for bringing all property under the tax net, he sought the permission of the council to initiate a GIS-based survey and for upgrading the property tax software of the corporation.
He also informed the council that a court has ruled in favour of the corporation regarding collecting advertisement tax for advertisement hoardings. This will also add to the revenue.
Raising the issue Mr. Savadi emphasised the need for increasing revenue for taking up development works.
Leader of Opposition Doreraj Manikuntla, Congress councillors Iqbal Savanur, Shambhu Salimnai and Suvarna Kallakuntla, BJP councillors Umesh Koujageri, Ramanna Badiger, the former Mayor Radhabai Safare and others took part in the discussion and gave several suggestions.
Their suggestions included GIS based survey, reviewing stallage charges, checking malpractice, cutting down costs and regularisation of building bylaw violations with additional fine.
