more-in A proposal to entrust two private agencies to build 18 bus shelters in the city on Build, Operate and Transfer (BoT) basis, without inviting competitive bids or through auction, came to light at the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) council meeting on Friday. According to sources in the MCC, one of the private agencies belongs to a close relative of a city MLA. Raising the matter, Vijaya Kumar Shetty, a councillor belonging to the BJP, questioned the decision of the Standing Committee for Taxation, Finance and Appeals to allow the two agencies to construct the shelters on BoT basis. Mr. Shetty said the committee, at its meeting on February 25 this year, had permitted the two agencies to construct the shelters on the condition that they would pay the civic body ?40,000 a year as ground rent for each shelter. The shelters would be under the control of these agencies for three years. But two members of the committee, Naveenchandra K. and Surendra, have opposed the decision of the seven-member committee on the grounds that the corporation cannot bypass inviting of bids or holding an auction. Mr. Shetty said that of the two agencies, one has been permitted to build 15 bus shelters, and the other three. He alleged that this was a “commercial attempt” by the agencies in order to collect huge amounts from advertisers. On the other hand, the agencies would have to pay only ground rent to the corporation. This is like converting government property into private property for three years and earning a huge profit at the cost of the corporation, Mr. Shetty said. He said if the corporation builds the bus shelters by itself, it could earn the advertisement revenue and use the money for development works. The corporation should not go ahead with the proposal merely based on the standing committee’s decision, he said. The proposal is yet to be placed before the MCC council for approval. Commissioner Mohammed Nazir agreed with Mr. Shetty and said that according to the rules, the civic body cannot allow any agencies to build shelters without holding a bidding contest first.

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