Mangaluru : An amount of Rs 27 crore belonging to the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) and kept in various banks as fixed deposits (FD) by the MCC officials, raised doubts among the members during the corporation’s general body meeting, held at Mangala Auditorium here on Saturday.

MCC member Kavitha claimed that the money was kept illegally in different nationalised banks and co-operative societies without bringing it to the notice of the members.

The accountant officer said that premier FAR fund, enterprise fund, water supply fund, IT deduction and various grants were kept in the different bank accounts. He also claimed that money had been kept as FD with the permission of the commissioner. As the members became more suspicious, Commissioner Dr H N Gopalakrishna clarified that though there was no provision to keep government fund as FDs in the banks, the former commissioners might have done it to get more benefit from the amount.

Meanwhile, the commissioner said that the process of forming a cremation ground at Nandigudda was still in the land identification stage.

MLA J R Lobo had written a letter to the deputy commissioner to consider the demand made by a community for the ground. The DC had forwarded the letter on October 28, 2014 to the MCC and directed to explain the actions taken, to the MLA. The revenue officials said that the file was with surveyor and further process was yet to be done.

Earlier, Opposition leader Sudhir Shetty objected to the earmarking of the land for the cremation ground at Nandigudda or Bengre without no objection certificate from the corporation. The commissioner should write to the government on this particular issue, he added.

Naveen D’Souza said that the MCC was losing its vacant land because of the officials. “If the assistant commissioner can give the MCC land with his own will, then what is the need for the house?” he asked.

Sudhir Shetty said that the MCC had failed to collect its revenue and only 50 per cent of the total revenue was being collected. The waste management work and weed-cutting works are not being done properly. The waste is not being collected from commercial complexes instead mud is collected by waste management firms, who are making money from it. If this mismanagement continues BJP will carry out protest, he said.