3 months ago
1
Raising concerns implicit Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) floating a tender for the improvement of autobus shelters, directional signage structures (gantries and cantilevers) with advertisement rights successful the lack of an elected council, the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has urged the civic assemblage to enactment it connected clasp oregon reconsider.
In a February 9 missive to H.V. Darshan, the head of MCC and Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada, P.B. Ahmed Mudassar, president, KCCI, said, “Initiating a large, semipermanent task that volition signifier nationalist spaces, advertizing rights and the city’s streetscape for years without deliberation by elected representatives raises important concerns. Decisions of this standard ideally necessitate antiauthoritarian oversight and argumentation direction, not simply administrative approval.”
Mr. Mudassar added, “We respectfully impulse that the tender beryllium paused and reconsidered; that elected representatives beryllium progressive erstwhile the assembly is constituted; that nationalist sentiment beryllium sought; that eligibility and valuation criteria beryllium revisited; that monopolisation beryllium prevented by unbundling the project; that pending allotments beryllium honoured; and that Mangaluru’s municipality and biology quality beryllium protected.”
Lack of nationalist involvement
The KCCI said autobus shelters, gantries and advertizing structures straight impact commuters, pedestrians, shopkeepers, residents and roadworthy users. Moving up with a city-wide advertizing infrastructure task without seeking nationalist sentiment weakens participatory governance and risks eroding nationalist trust. Urban infrastructure should beryllium shaped with citizens, not imposed upon them.
“The request of a minimum ₹18-crore standalone turnover from the advertisement concern efficaciously excludes each section Mangaluru-based vendors. Local firms person successfully designed, erected and maintained civic infrastructure for decades. Public procurement should promote MSMEs and section enterprises, not destruct them done disproportionate eligibility criteria,” helium said.
Previously, the Corporation followed a package-based exemplary that divided advertizing media into smaller lots, enabling information by MSMEs and vendors with humble turnover. This inclusive attack has been bypassed without explanation, raising morganatic concerns, the KCCI said.
150 nationalist assets bundled
It said the tender bundles 150 large nationalist assets nether a azygous concessionaire, efficaciously granting exclusive power implicit Mangaluru’s outdoor advertizing ecosystem. This risks monopolisation of nationalist ocular space, reduces contention and creates semipermanent dependency connected a azygous backstage operator. “There is simply a increasing cognition that the tender operation whitethorn favour a ample out-of-city vendor,” the missive said.
Reminding the MCC of however the civic assemblage faced risks by going for a single-vendor exemplary for coagulated discarded management, the missive said, “This reinforces the value of avoiding akin monopolistic structures successful this project.”
Mr. Mudassar said, “Bidders are required to unafraid a minimum of 75 marks successful the method evaluation, with important value fixed to improvement plans, designs and methodology. These parameters are inherently subjective, and the tender does not specify clear, measurable benchmarks for evaluation. Such discretion creates scope for bias oregon preferential attraction and undermines assurance successful a just and transparent process.”
Tree extortion
The tender besides lacks a robust model for histrion extortion and biology safeguards, raising concerns astir histrion cutting, canopy trimming and semipermanent ecological impact, the KCCI said.
Local vendors person heavy cognition of coastal upwind conditions, monsoons, ungraded behaviour and postulation patterns. They supply faster effect times, make section employment and stay straight accountable to the community. Marginalising them successful favour of distant monopolies risks turning civic infrastructure into a purely extractive commercialized exercise, the missive said.
