Mangaluru: It was a piqued MLA J R Lobo who chaired the progress of works undertaken by Mangaluru City Corporation under Floor Area Ratio (FAR) funds at the civic body on Tuesday. His ire stemmed from the fact that MCC authorities had failed to issue work order even three months after the tenders had been called and was resulting in delay of the works being executed. Lobo wondered when these works would be completed at the given delays.

Expressing displeasure over the fact that work order had not been issued even for one work under FAR fund work, Lobo sought to know from the officials about difficulties they faced in doing so. “If you delay issuing the work order even after the tender is finalized, when will the work be completed?” the MLA, who incidentally was also the former commissioner of MCC wondered. People expect work to be completed in a time bound manner, he noted.

Observing that there are delays in the manner in which town planning officers are functioning, Lobo while admitting that officials do have to take care about legal aspects of any work, also sometimes have to find ways and means to go out of the way to help people. Hiding behind official excuse or fear of making a mistake in discharging one’s official duty is not the right way of going about things and one should have the conviction to back a decision taken, he said.

Reviewing each of the fund works in detail, Lobo advised the officials to take people of the locality in to confidence while extending the roads. People too must cooperate with the civic body in such issues, he said. Officials also must exercise caution and use discretion while widening roads as well as constructing drains. Due caution must be taken to address issues pertaining to underground drainage (UGD) network while constructing concrete roads, he advised.