Mangaluru : The Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has served a notice on Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (Mescom) Limited for digging footpaths to lay underground cables without taking pre-requisite permission from the local body.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday here, Mayor Kavitha Sanil said that she has directed the officials to serve notice as the Mescom has to pay Rs 59 lakh in the form of fee, besides restoring the structure with interlock tiles as existed earlier.

She said before initiating action she, accompanied by chief whip in MCC council Shashidhar Hegde on Monday, inspected the places in Balmatta, Bendorwell, near Jyothi Circle (Ambedkar Circle), Milagres Church and near Kadri Park where the debris created after digging footpath still remains to be cleared and levelled further for the benefit of pedestrians.

The equipment used for the works has been seized, as taking up such works without obtaining permission of the local body amounts to criminal offence, she said. However, it was decided to go slow in order to maintain inter-department relations, as MCC is also a consumer of Mescom, she clarified. The issue has also been brought to the notice of Mangaluru south MLA J R Lobo, who took Mescom authorities to task in this regard.