Bid to have addl TPO post for city

By CT reporter
MANGALORE : Reliable sources have indicated that presently a hush hush attempt is on in the Mangalore city corporation town planning division to create an additional post of town planning officer.
What has come to light is that this attempt to elevate the assistant town planning officer Shivaraj to the post of town planning officer though one such post already exists and is occupied by Balakrishna Gowda, is to see that works which Gowda refused to do , could be got done easily through Shivaraj.
It has been learnt that such an attempt was on since the past two years with the MCC middlemen said to be the masterminds. Already, the lobby has made several appeals to the minister and officials in this regard.
Last year, even the corporation council had sent such a proposal to the state government though no two posts of town planning officers existed in any other corporation of the state.
The government, then very well understanding the ploy, had dismissed the proposal and had made it clear that no additional post could be created and there was no scope for the elevation of the assistant town planning officer as of now.
The main reason being that the sitting town planning officer Balakrishna Gowda, is learnt to be very much strict and disciplined and strictly adhered to the government guidelines on matters pertaining to illegal constructions and had even refused licences to illegal constructions.
The main intention behind the bid to elevate Shivaraj to the post of town planning officer was to secure licence for the illegal constructions, through him, sources said.
An MCC broker, it is learnt, had also forwarded a memorandum to the government in this regard, with due signatures of a few builders saying the additional post was needed in public interest !.