“Long-pending vacancies of officials and procedural delays are the reasons behind the slow progress of development works in Hyderabad Karnataka districts,” said Trivikram Joshi, chairman of the High Powered Committee to oversee the implementation of the Special Development Plan, here on Thursday.
He was addressing presspersons after reviewing works taken up with funds released as per the recommendations of the Nanjundappa committee.
“In Bidar, the original plan was to spend Rs. 149 crore; but only Rs. 52 crore has been spent till now. Officials are confident of spending another Rs. 5 to Rs.10 crore before the end of the financial year. I think the problem is that several posts of officials are vacant and that there are some inherent procedural delays involved in inviting tenders and finalising them,” he said.
He added that he would bring these issues to the notice of Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar. According to Mr. Joshi, of the Rs 16,000 crore released by the State in the last six years, around Rs. 10,500 crore has been spent till now. “We have already submitted plans for spending Rs. 2,900 crore in the next two years,” he said.
He urged officials to speed up works and display information about the works taken up across the district. Mr. Joshi also asked Deputy Commissioner P.C Jaffer to issue notices to officials who were absent from the meeting or did not have the necessary information.
