The long-pending proposal to expand the jurisdiction of Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) to include several villages on the outskirts and upgrade the civic body into a ‘Bruhat Mysuru Mahanagara Palike’ or ‘Greater Mysuru’ has picked up pace once more.
Acknowledging the growing demand for upgrading MCC, Minister in-charge of Mysuru district S.T. Somashekar told reporters here on Friday that a decision in this regard will be taken after a meeting with MLAs and other elected representatives. He said villages falling under the limits of eight gram panchayats on the outskirts of Mysuru will qualify to be included in the expanded civic body. However, he said it was up to the State government to examine whether MCC should be upgraded on the basis of population or any other parameters.
Mr. Somashekar’s assertion comes close on the heels of a letter written by Mysuru MP Pratap Simha to Minister for Municipal Administration K.C. Narayan Gowda on September 1, 2020, making a case for an imperative need to upgrade MCC by referring to the growth of several villages in Mysuru taluk such as Alanahalli, Hanchya, Kadakola, Ramanahalli, Hosahundi, Devalapura, Srirampura, Jayapura, Bogadi, Hootagalli, Hinkal, Koorgalli, Ilavala, Belavatha, Siddalingapura, Udburu, Dhanagalli and Lalithadripura.
He said these villages on the outskirts of Mysuru had witnessed enough growth owing to the establishment of several residential layouts and industrial areas. This, Mr. Simha, said had led to a growth in the population of the areas as well as the revenue earned by the respective gram panchayats. The villages can be included into the MCC and the civic body can be upgraded as per the provisions of the Karnataka Municipal Administrations Act, 1964, he said. The inclusion of the villages into the jurisdiction of a Greater Mysuru was necessary to provide basic amenities in the area, he said, while asking Mr. Narayan Gowda to issue necessary directions to officials.
Presently, the jurisdiction of MCC stretches across a total of 128.4 sq km inside the Outer Ring Road. Several areas had witnessed development in the recent past fall outside the Outer Ring Road, which is not within the geographic purview of MCC.
Residents of many such areas, including layouts developed or approved by Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) have been denied of basic amenities including drinking water. The absence of a garbage collection mechanism in the areas falling outside the jurisdiction of MCC has led to indiscriminate dumping of household and other waste on vacant areas along the Outer Ring Road.
MUDA promises measures against garbage menace
The Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) will soon take steps to curb the menace arising out of indiscriminate dumping of garbage in areas outside the Mysuru City Corporation’s (MCC) jurisdiction.
Household waste is found dumped in heaps in various vacant spots along the Outer Ring Road (ORR) as the residents of several new residential layouts formed by the MUDA or approved by MUDA denied a garbage collection mechanism.
MUDA chairman H.V. Rajeev told The Hindu that MUDA was planning to take steps in this regard as residents of layouts developed or approved by MUDA pay property tax to the authority. He said the MUDA was planning to purchase a jetting machine, used for cleaning underground drainage, besides taking steps to prevent indiscriminate dumping of garbage in the areas under its jurisdiction.
MUDA will also take steps to ensure that garbage collected from MCC areas is not illegally dumped in MUDA areas instead of being taken to the designated waste management centre at J.P. Nagar on the outskirts of the city.
