The issues of garbage disposal in villages and implementation of Multi Village Drinking Water Scheme (MVDWS) dominated the general body meeting of Udupi Zilla Panchayat (ZP) here on Thursday.
Raising the issue, Ananth Movady, member, said that though the Swachch Bharat programme was launched with much fanfare in the district, the public toilet at the tourist spot of Trasi was in a bad shape. It suffered from maintenance problems.
Manjunath Poojary, member, said garbage disposal was a major problem in villages. The Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) should create awareness about the Swachch Bharat programme in all gram panchayats, he said.
M. Kanagavalli, the chief executive officer of ZP, said she had directed the executive officers of all three taluk panchayats to take up extensive publicity campaign. She would ask the PDO to look into the problem in Trasi. Mr. Poojary said implementation of MVDWS in Hebri and Nitte villages was tardy. Even after seven years of the launch of this scheme, people were yet to get drinking water.
Ms. Kanagavalli said that though the estimate for MVDWS in Nitte was done in 2007, the money was sanctioned only in 2010. When the second phase work was completed, water would be available in Nitte. An amount of Rs. 2.38 crore had been spent on the MVDWS in Hebri. A feeder line was necessary there, she said. Pratapchandra Shetty, MLC, wanted to know the criteria under which 23 more projects in the district under the MVDWS had been submitted. The meeting was told that they were selected by the Karavali Karnataka Development Authority.
Arun Shetty, member, said he suspected that some schools were giving Transfer Certificates to low-scoring students in classes nine or 10 to ensure their SSLC pass percentage remained high.
