Mangaluru : Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil S. directed the Mangaluru City Corporation to complete disbursing compensation in 10 days towards lands that are submerged while impounding water at Thumbe vented dam at five meters.

Chairing the meeting on drinking water here on Saturday, Mr. Senthil expressed his unhappiness over the tardiness of the officials in carrying out the survey of lands to be submerged and pay land owners compensation.

Mr. Senthil said the first thing he did after assuming office was to call meeting of land owners and convince them to accept compensation for the period when their lands were to be submerged. “The amount was released from my office a month ago. I am surprised that the Mangaluru City Corporation has not paid compensation to the land owners,” he said.

When Corporation Commissioner Mohammed Nazir said none of the land owners had submitted documents related to the lands, Mr. Senthil said this could not be considered a valid reason for non-payment.

“These documents are with the Revenue Department. You need not wait for owners to submit documents,” he said.

Mr. Senthil was also surprised that the private agency authorised to carry out survey had not completed the work. “The firm based in Hyderabad has surveyed only 50% of land,” Mr. Nazir said, and added that for personal reasons the members of surveying team were yet to complete the work.

While expressing his unhappiness over the inordinate delay in completing the table-top survey, Mr. Senthil said this was the reason land owners complained to him about the working of the Corporation officials.

He then asked Mr. Nazir to complete the survey and pay the compensation in ten days. “We are going ahead with the plan of impounding water at five meters (at Thumbe vented dam),” he said.