Mangaluru : Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has cancelled the licence of 17 massage parlours in the city.

Measures have also been taken to check skill game centres that have been primarily found flouting rules in a blatant manner.

MCC Health Officer Manjaiah Shetty told media on Monday that the licences of massage parlours were cancelled as they had obtained trade licence as Ayurvedic therapy centres. Prior to that, notices were issued seeking explanation from the owners, he added.

In the case of skill game centres, meanwhile, the health inspectors of the particular wards have been told to identify and submit reports within a week. According to a recent court order, indoor games like rummy, poker, carom and chess only can be allowed at skill game centres, he specified.

Earlier, Mayor Kavita Sanil told the media that, following the recent raid on a skill game centre in the city, illegal activities came to fore. The very action seems to have gone down well with the public too, who have been sharing their agony, with most of their wards falling prey to such game centres, she said.

Quoting a woman who had called only to share her agony, the mayor said, the woman’s college-going son had bunked classes for one year and had been a regular at such centres.

The mayor, who appeared unfazed with the recent court case filed by the owner of a skill game centre against her along with the health officer and local police inspector, said she has been emboldened by the overwhelming support from the public.

During the third monthly phone-in held by the mayor, a woman caller also congratulated Sanil for showing chutzpah in raiding a skill game centre.

Dr Arun Rao complained to the mayor about the lack of adequate footpath facility on a stretch of the Lighthouse Hill Road, while the youth riding two-wheelers on the space meant for pedestrians have been adding to the woes of senior citizens.

Another senior citizen Chandrashekar Acharya wanted the mayor to create a WhatsApp group to enable people to air their grievances in a jiffy. He also brought to her notice, the stopping of road widening work from Indira Hospital Junction to Kankanady, which has been causing inconvenience to senior citizens cropping up safety issues.

Naveen from Pumpwell complained about the potholes filled stretch of road from Pumpwell towards Karavali Circle and also Father Muller Hospital Junction (bypass road).