Footpaths Must Be Lower

When Mysore City Corporation started using interlocking tiles for footpaths, it also increased the height of the footpaths relative to the road. In many places, the footpaths are so high that in cars parked at the edge of the road, it is not possible to open the doors 

(Vinoba Road next to Nanjaraj Bahadur Choultry). 

Forget the elderly and the children, even ordinary people have trouble getting on the footpaths from the road surface and so slabs have been placed as stepping stones. But these stepping stones obstruct traffic on the narrow cross roads.

 

(Devaraj Urs Road)

The Indian Road Congress specifications recommend that the footpath be 125 mm (about 6 inches) above the paved road. The clearance of doors in most cars on the road is about 250-300 mm (10-12 inches). If the footpath is more than 125 mm high, it becomes difficult to open the door and get down on the passenger side. To avoid this, people tend to park farther from the kerb, thus obstructing passing vehicles (See for example ).

It is imperative that MCC reduce footpath height to the recommended value of 125 mm in the interest of both pedestrian safety and vehicle safety.

B.Vaikunth Shenoy, Mysore Grahakara Parishat

MCC's Online Calculator Calculates SAS Tax Wrongly

Mysore City Corporation provides a calculator on its website which is supposed to calculate your property tax. For multi-storeyed properties, it overestimates the tax and causes loss to the property owner. The calculator is not just incorrect, it also violates laws.

According to Sec. 109 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, property tax is assessed on the value of the building plus the value of the land occupied by it. Vacant land around the building is exempt from tax. The MCC calculator calculates the value of the land for each floor of the building and therefrom the tax on the land. For a multistoreyed building, the value of the land and the tax on it must be calculated only once since all floors of the building stand on the same land, but the calculator does it for each floor and thus overestimates the tax. Owners of multistoreyed buildings who use the MCC calculator are paying more property tax than they should.

Now about the violation of laws. The calculator (and in fact all MCC records of properties) measures property dimensions in feet. It is amazing that even after 50 years of banning the British units of measurement and adopting metric units, MCC is still not using metres as units! The Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1956 made the metre the official unit of length in India. The government and the public were given a grace period of 6 years to convert to the metric system. After 1-4-1962, it is illegal to use non-metric units such as feet. In fact, Sec. 80 of the Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976 (which replaced the 1956 Act) mandates that non-metric measures should not even be stated in any enactment, notification, rule or order of the government.

The MCC tax calculator also violates the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976.The calculator gives 50% discount for self-occupancy and allows for depreciation, but there are no provisions of the KMC Act which permit them.

In fact, using the calculator to calculate the property tax afresh every year is itself illegal. Sec. 109A of the KMC Act clearly says that the property tax shall not be assessed each year but shall stand enhanced by 15 percent once in every three years commencing from the financial year 2005-2006. So all one has to do is to pay (for 2011-12) 15% more than what was paid in 2010-11.

Another problem with the online tax calculator is that it can only calculates tax for the current year. People who have not paid last year's tax can not use the calculator since it does not give a printout of last year's tax.

P.M.Bhat, Mysore Grahakara Parishat

Yet Another Type of Footpath Encroachment

Under the guise of road widening, many footpaths in Mysore have been reduced next to nothing. What is left is very often encroached by roadside vendores, commercial establishments for customer parking and residents for their private gardens.

Now another type of "official" encroachment of footpaths is reducing the usefulness of footpaths even more. That is the erection of large cement signboards for circles (and roads). I have enclosed two examples, one at the intersection of Ramavilas Road and Narayana Shastri Road.........

.......and the one at the intersection of Dewan's Road and Vinoba Road

These signboards are blocking the already narrow footpaths.

This problem can be easily solved by removing these concrete structures (which become unsightly very soon from all the advertisements stuck on them) and instead hang a metal signboard from a steel cable strung diagonally across the circle. Such cables can be used to hang traffic lights also. (Such an arrangement - as seen in the below photo- is very common in many western countries which shows both signboards and traffic lights hung from a cable).

B.Vaikunth Shenoy, Mysore Grahakara Parishat

Construction in Parks in Mysore

To

The Commissioner
Mysore City Corporation
Mysore – 570020

Subject: CONSTRUCTIONS IN PARKS IN MYSORE

Reference: Karnataka Parks, Play-fields and Open Spaces Act and Rules, 1985.

Sir,

1. We have to bring to your immediate and urgent attention, the following instances of violations of the; Karnataka Parks, Play-fields and Open Spaces Act and Rules, 1985, in Mysore:

# Curzon Park Block-2 (Vishnuvardhan Park) – An amphitheatre

# Nishad Bagh (Kuppan na Park) – An amphitheatre, a musical fountain, a restaurant/hotel and parking space for motor vehicles

# People’s Park – Library building

2. It is also known that an amphitheatre is being planned in the Town Hall premises. Thus, within a distance of less than 1-km, there will be three amphitheatres. Also there is already a musical fountain in the Dasara Exhibition Grounds, and the need for another within 1-km cannot be justified. Already, a strip of Nishad Bagh (Kuppanna Park) has been acquired for road widening along Malemahadeshwara Road opposite to Sandesh The Prince Hotel. These provisions planned appear to be a waste of public money, which can be much better utilised to improve infrastructure within Mysore.

3 . It is understood that the Asst Director of Horticulture, Mysore City Corporation, has justified the construction in Curzon Park and Nishad Bagh, by a mistaken comprehension of Section 8(1) of  Karnataka Parks, Play-fields and Open Spaces Act, 1985.

4. Section 8(1) of the Karnataka Parks, Play-fields and Open Spaces Act, 1985, specifically states,

“No person shall construct any building or put up any structure likely to affect the utility of the park, play-field or open space or make any encroachment in or over any park, play-field or open space specified in the list published under section 4 or section 5 Provided that the executive authority may, subject to such rules as may be prescribed, permit the construction of such buildings or putting up of such structures as may be necessary for the improvement or more beneficial utilisation of the park,play-field or open space.“

The relevant portion that shows how the Act has been misquoted by the MCC Asst Director of Horticulture is underlined for your attention. By using an area inside a public park for any sort of construction, such area will not be available to the public for use as a park, thus adversely affecting its utility as a park and going against the spirit of the Act. Further, in the provision under the same Section 8(1), the Karnataka Parks, Play-fields and Open Spaces Rules become applicable. Under Rule 6 of the Karnataka Parks, Play-fields and Open Spaces Rules (reproduced below), only well, pumphouse, benches and watchman quarters may be constructed. The planned construction mentioned in paragraph 1 above are outside the purview of the Act and Rules.

5. You will be aware that construction of a building within Cheluvamba Park (V.V.Puram) that was substantially more than a watchman’s quarters in area, design and specification, was challenged by Mysore Grahakara Parishat in 1995  as violation of Rule 6 of the  Karnataka Parks, Play-fields and Open Spaces Rules before the Fourth Additional First Civil Judge (Junior Division), Mysore, and, after protracted litigation, the illegal structure was demolished by MCC following the Court Order dated 29.6.2000. The constructions mentioned in paragraph 1 above violate the Karnataka Parks, Play-fields and Open Spaces Act and Rules, 1985, in identical manner to the Cheluvamba Park case.

6. In view of the foregoing you are requested to immediately issue orders to stop the constructions as mentioned above in Paragraph 1, or any other construction in the park areas mentioned or any other parks in Mysore City.

Yours faithfully,
Maj Gen S.G.Vombatkere (Retd)
Convenor, MGP

Copy:Principal Secretary, UDD, GoK, Bangalore – for immediate action

Section 6 of Karnataka Parks, Play-fields and Open Spaces Rules, 1985 :

6. Construction of other structures in the parks, play fields and open spaces; - (1) The executive authority may permit construction of a well, pumphouse, benches for the visiting public to sit and quarters for the watchmen in any park, play-fields or open space.

(2) Notwithstanding anything in sub-rule (1):-

(a) no permission to construct quarters for the watchmen shall be granted where the total area of the park, play-field or open space is less than two hectares;

(b) in other cases, not more than two quarters may be permitted to be constructed and the area of any such quarters shall not exceed thirty square metres.