The Council of the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat on Thursday severely criticised the failure of officials to get funds for a large number of houses sanctioned for the poor which are left incomplete due to blockage of flow of funds to beneficiaries.
The Council heard that about half (3183) of the 6,558 houses in Bantwal taluk alone were facing the problem while in Mangalore taluk the number was 870 out of 2511 houses sanctioned. Members cutting across party lines, including Janardhana Gowda of the BJP, said the performance of the district in rural housing would remain poor unless quick action is taken. Mamata Gatti of Congress pointed out that many houses were at different stages of construction. Another member said poor beneficiaries had pledged all their valuables and still did not have the houses which were sanctioned but flow of funds was withheld citing technical reasons. Many houses, for example, exceeded 700 sq ft limit prescribed.
Deputy Secretary N.R. Umesh informed that the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation had relaxed some of the rules and it was possible to restore flow of funds to the houses if panchayat acted fast. He said funds were being released in the case of 164 houses after details were resubmitted to the Corporation.
President of the Panchayat Koragappa Naik directed officials to give a report in 10 days on the status housing schemes in order ensure that maximum number of beneficiaries already identified got the funds.
Areca irregularities
Later the members and MLC Monappa Bhandari pointed out that discrepancies in distribution of relief for fruit rot disease of arecanut. Even non farmers had got compensation while genuine ones were denied or kept waiting for it. Mr. Naik who too said rich areca growers had got compensation but not the ones who had small holdings. He directed that zilla panchayat members are taken into confidence while finalizing beneficiaries in addition to the local MLAs. Later, a resolution was passed against any attempt to ban areca consumption.
