Kalagodu Ratnakar, president of Shivamogga Zilla Panchayat, has said that the State government would be requested to expeditiously release the funds needed for completing the pending drinking water supply schemes in rural areas of the district.
Speaking at the general body meeting of the zilla panchayat here on Thursday, Mr. Ratnakar said that at present, the implementation of 2,260 schemes related to drinking water supply was under progress in the district. All these projects were spillovers of schemes that were launched in last year and could not be completed owing to various reasons. To ensure completion of these pending schemes, fresh projects had not been included in the action plan for 2015-16, he said.
A sum of Rs. 150 crore was required for the completion of 2,260 pending schemes. The State government had so far released Rs. 14 crore this year for schemes related to rural drinking water supply, Mr. Ratnakar said and added that he would meet the senior officials of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj at Bengaluru soon and request them to release the funds in phases for the completion of pending projects.
Councillors, cutting across the party lines, expressed displeasure over the alleged delay in the implementation of schemes related to drinking water supply. As soon as the meeting began, the councillors of Bharatiya Janata Party staged a dharna, urging Mr. Ratnakar to allow them to present an adjournment motion on the issue of delay in the execution of drinking water supply projects. The protest was withdrawn after Mr. Ratnakar allowed a special discussion on the issue. Prema Sudhakar, councillor of the BJP who raised the issue, said that many drinking water schemes undertaken in 2013-14 and 2014-15 had remained incomplete owing to paucity of funds. The progress of work on the installation of pure drinking water supply units and execution of multi-village drinking water supply schemes was not on the expected lines.
Mr. Ratnakar told the meeting that a total of 4,600 schemes related to drinking water supply had been taken up in 2014-15. Of them, 2,260 schemes could not be completed for various reasons.
Councillor Geetha Mallikarjun told the meeting that the funds for taking up drinking water supply schemes in drought-hit Sorab taluk were yet to be released. Councillor T.L. Sundaresh demanded that the work of digging open wells taken up last year by the Department of Rural Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation in rural areas of Tirthahalli be completed.
M.B. Bhanuprakash, MLC; V.P. Ikkeri, Deputy Commissioner; and Gayatri Shanmukhappa, vice-president of the zilla panchayat, were present.
