Members of the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat aired their displeasure over the attitude of officials in ignoring the resolution of the council on utilisation of government grants for drinking water on Monday and challenged the officialdom to run the panchayat.
Participating at the monthly meeting here, Congress member M.S. Mohammed said that the council had in its last meeting decided to utilise the government grant of Rs. 35 crore for drinking water equally for spill-over and new works. However, the officials allocated the monies entirely for spillover works, he said.
Congress member Mamatha Gatti took zilla panchayat president Meenakshi Shanthigodu asking whether the president did not send the council resolution to the officials.
Ms. Shanthigodu said she had sent it. Ms. Gatti then asked whether she did not check Monday’s agenda before attending the meeting and got the reply that the president was attending a training programme till Saturday.
Ruling BJP members too joined the issue and said if the officials were ignoring the decision of the elected body, there was no need for the elected representatives. Many places in the district still did not get potable water and people had become restless.
It was difficult for members to face the voters, they said. Thungappa Bangera and Sucharitha Shetty spoke.
Education and Health Standing Committee chairman K.K. Shahul Hameed said that the engineers had asked the members to give a list of new works to be undertaken this year; but had also said that the works might or might not be included in the action plan. What was the need for asking the list then, he asked.
Ms. Shanthigodu too became upset with the action of the officials and asked who was supreme, the elected body or the officials.
As every member sought her reaction, Chief Executive Officer P.I. Sreevidya said that the monies came from the State programme and the government had specifically directed to complete all the pending works.
Spillover works themselves amount to about Rs. 80 crore, she said. Once the spill-over works were completed in entirety, new works could be taken up, she said. Otherwise, works would continuously remain pending.
Details
Following demand from members, Ms. Shanthigodu directed the officials to furnish details of all spillover works to the members.
Meanwhile, the council again resolved to utilise the grant at 60:40 ratio for spill-over and new works and urged the president and the CEO to get the proposal sanctioned from the government.
Council again resolves to utilise government grants at 60:40 ratio for spillover and
new works
