Karnataka - Mysore   

Distribute BPL cards by January 15: Shobha

— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

Reviewing progress: Mysore district in-charge Minister Shobha Karandlaje at a meeting in Mysore on Wednesday.

MYSORE: Even as the district administration has embarked on a drive to streamline the Public Distribution System (PDS) following directions from Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, district in-charge Minister Shobha Karandlaje on Wednesday directed the officials to complete distribution of below poverty line (BPL) and above poverty line (APL) cards by January 15.

“I should not hear any complaint on BPL cards from January 15 onwards,” she said.

The Minister was presiding over a meeting to review the progress in the implementation of development schemes in the district at the zilla panchayat office here.

Ms. Karandlaje said she had received complaints of BPL families receiving APL cards and vice-versa here and also in many villages. These lapses had to be set right and genuine beneficiaries should get government benefits.

“The families can submit applications to set right the lapses. A last chance has to be given to the BPL families deprived of cards and the help of various organisations should be taken to raise awareness on the special drive,” she said.

She said 14,000 fresh applications had been submitted to the authorities seeking BPL cards and 19,000 applications, which had been submitted earlier, were being processed. In rural areas, 73,000 applications were being processed for BPL cards.

The Minister said the Centre had stopped supply of foodgrains to the hostels run by the Department of Social Welfare and the State Government had made arrangements to avoid inconvenience to students.

“The Centre’s move might aggravate the problem. We cannot provide foodgrains under PDS to the hostels. Only foodgrains seized during raids and those could not be distributed are being supplied to the hostels,” Ms. Karandlaje said.

The Minister told the meeting that she had received complaints of poor quality work under the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and warned the officials of stringent action if she received complaints in the future.

Ms. Karandlaje ordered the officials to blacklist the contractors who failed to execute works according to the guidelines.

The Government had set a target for constructing 21,000 individual toilets in the district by March. Importance had to be given to popularise the concept of having individual toilets among the people in rural areas, she said.

Deputy Commissioner and JNNURM Special Officer P. Manivannan said that 25 projects estimated at Rs. 1,250 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) had been submitted to the Centre for approval. Projects worth Rs. 440 crore had been cleared.

A website would be launched soon on JNNURM projects and suggestions of citizens would be elicited once in a month by holding special meetings here. A separate office for JNNURM would be opened on the premises of the Mysore City Corporation, he said.

Officials of the Hunsur Wildlife Division said that Rs. 8 lakh had been released by the district administration towards compensation to farmers who had incurred crop loss caused by elephants.

Ms. Karandlaje ordered suspension of officers from the Command Area Development Authority (CADA) and the Department of Minor Irrigation for abstaining from the meeting convened by her.

“I will talk to the Chief Minister to relieve the officers, who were supposed to attend Wednesday’s meeting, from their respective departments as they were not interested in sharing information on the progress made in the implementation of development projects,” she said.

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