Mangaluru: Mayor Bhaskar K Moily on Wednesday strove to give the picture of a robust all-round growth of this coastal city in the 5 years that the Congress ruled the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC). With Bhaskar’s one-year term ending on March 7, and with that the five-year tenure of the present 60-member council, the mayor said the civic body has achieved a lot in this period with all-round cooperation of MLAs – past and present—officials and elected members.Interacting with the media, the mayor said the corporation in five years from 2014-19 has taken up several important development works from its own resources through the general fund. The MCC implemented 11,688 development projects amounting to Rs 403.50 crore (see box), in this period, and this is the highest amount spent from the general fund so far, the mayor said, adding MCC also spent on development work from other sources as well.“The government in its 2019 budget has earmarked Rs 125 crore for the city corporation under the Nagarothana Project,” he said. “We are awaiting guidelines from the urban development department on its utilisation,” he said, adding the action plan will be prepared and works executed. This is the fourth tranche of special grants that MCC is receiving, with the then B S Yeddyurappa government releasing Rs 100 crore each in three tranches.Having spent the Rs 100 crore released in the first tranche, MCC has spent Rs 78.73 crore out of Rs 79.02 crore released in the second tranche, undertaking 126 works. In the third tranche of Rs 87 crore funds released, MCC has spent Rs 82.02 crore undertaking 103 works, he said, adding the state government will release the remaining Rs 33.98 crore due to it in the second and third tranches. The fresh grants will give a further fillip to development, he noted.In a bid to further become citizen-centric, Bhaskar said MCC will relaunch some of its online payment services sometime early next week. These include online payment of property tax, water supply bills, obtaining khata extract, change in khata and registration under khata services, online application for water supply and underground drainage (UGD) connections as well as bookings for Town Hall and various playgrounds under control of the civic body for sports and allied uses.Commissioner Mohammad Nazeer said MCC will make available payment option through debit and credit cards to begin with for these online services, before extending it to other popular e-wallets such as Paytm. We are also in touch with the urban development department to clear the decks for MCC to usher in its own online property tax calculator, which has been held back for various technical and financial reasons for past three years, he noted.

Stay updated with all the Latest Mangalore headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.