Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that the State government will relax norms to speed up water supply works in drought-hit areas. At a meeting to review drought relief works taken up in the district in Bidar on Friday, he said that this would extend up to the second week of June.
Eshwar Khandre, MLA, said that the officials were delaying drilling of borewells and completion of other water supply works, citing the delay in the tender process. Even weeks and months after taluk-level water supply task forces clearing such works, officials keep saying they need time for the tender process. This should be avoided, he said.
The Chief Minister said that tenders were important to follow the procedure, but they tend to delay works. “Our prime priority is to provide water to the people,” he said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said that rules or technical issues would not come in the way of initiating or completing water supply works during drought. This period would be treated as an emergency period and the focus would be on faster completion of works, he said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah instructed Urban Development Secretary T. K.Anil Kumar to issue instructions to officials. Mr. Kumar said that a request had been sent to the Finance Department. The Chief Minister said that he would instruct deputy commissioners to provide any number of tankers in scarcity-hit villages and towns. Krishna Byre Gowda, Minister of State for Agriculture, said that officials should not delay supplying water by tankers once it was approved by the zilla panchayat. Zilla panchayat chief executive officer Pavan Kumar Malpati said that gram panchayats had been empowered to supply tankers in needy areas. Mr. Byre Gowda asked the CEO to monitor the process and pull up officials if there was a delay.
The Chief Minister appreciated the efforts of the district administration in cleaning and dredging wells and tanks.
Mr. Siddaramaiah reprimanded the officials for delay in finalising tenders for drilling borewells and other works sought by MLAs. Mr. Khandre complained that works sanctioned in 2014 were not yet started. The Chief Minister reprimanded Mr. Malpati and asked him to monitor the progress on a daily basis. Mr. Siddaramaiah told project director Balbhim Kamble that such delays would not be tolerated.
“Deputy Commissioners should monitor the control room and send a weekly report on the need for funds. There is no dearth of funds,” he said.
Farmers were not buying fodder from fodder banks. Officers would conduct a village-level survey and open goshalas wherever there was a demand. He asked officials to grow fodder in farms of Forest, Agriculture, Horticulture and Sericulture departments. Works under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act should be started without waiting for Central funds.
Chief Secretary Aravind Jadhav, and Rajiv Chawla, Secretary, Animal Husbandry, were present.
