The Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat on Tuesday decided not to avail services of the Nirmiti Kendra, a quasi government body, in the wake of complaints about the quality of its work.
Cutting across party lines the members at the panchayat’s council meeting on Tuesday said that the Kendra, headed by the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada, was outsourcing its works instead of taking up construction on its own. They said the quality of construction at anganwadi buildings, particularly in Mangalore and Bantwal taluks, was inferior.
The council decided that the Kendra should be allowed to complete the under-construction buildings of the anganwadis but it would write to the Deputy Commissioner to withdraw contracts where construction works had not started. The council decided that the engineering department of the panchayat should build the remaining anganwadis.
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MLC K. Monappa Bhandary also supported the views expressed by panchayat members. The council also decided to constitute a committee to inquire into why the anganwadi buildings completed by the Kendra lacked quality.
President of the panchayat K. Koragappa Naik, who chaired over the meeting, however, did not spell out the composition of the committee and the timeframe.
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Members expressed concern over 20 multi-village drinking water supply projects in the district hanging fire for the past one year.
Executive engineer of the panchayat S. L. Sathyanarayana said that the projects would have to get clearance from the government at four stages.
He said that five projects — all in Bantwal taluk — are expected to get administrative approval from the government at a meeting scheduled on August 17. The preliminary survey reports of other projects were ready.
Chief Executive Officer of the panchayat Thulasi Maddineni assured the members that a multi-village water supply project at Kinnigoli (which is not part of the 20 projects proposed) would be made operational by year-end.