Officials coming unprepared on subjects related to their department listed on the agenda of the quarterly review meeting of Karnataka Development Programmes (KDP) faced the ire of Deputy Chief Minister and Kalaburagi district in-charge Minister Govind Karjol here on Friday.
Questioning National Rural Drinking Water Project (NRDWP) officer Azizuddin about total mini water supply schemes, piped water supply schemes and hand pumps in the district, the Minister charged the officer with failing to provide details of defunct and working water schemes. The government had earmarked ₹ 1,757 lakh for 203 works, of which 172 works were completed by spending ₹ 1,116.24 lakh.
Afzalpur MLA M.Y. Patil complained that 80 % of reverse osmosis (RO) plants installed for providing pure drinking water in the district were not functioning.
Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer P. Raja replied that of the total 442 units, 284 were working and 158 were not operating. “He assured me that all RO units will be repaired by February. The respective gram panchayats will be paid ₹ 3,000 per month for maintenance of RO plants,” he added.
Mr. M.Y. Patil and MLC Sunil Valayapur and the former Minister Priyanka Kharge hurled a series of complaints against Panchayat Raj Department officer Sharnabasappa for not taking up road maintenance works. He also failed to give details of roads upgraded to State Highways.
Mr. Karjol slammed Mr. Sharnbasappa for misleading the representatives about the Panchayat Raj works with those of the Public Works Department. The Minister also ordered the suspension of the officer.
Mr. Karjol also took Deputy Director for Food and Civil Supplies Dayanand Patil to task for failing to distribute ration cards under the Public Distribution System. As many as 62, 837 applications were received, of which 45,344 were approved of and 10,185 were rejected. As many as 7,318 applications were pending since April. The Minister lambasted Mr. Dayanand Patil for not distributing ration cards to the needy during the lockdown.
Mr. Kharge said that 33 cases were filed against racket in the sale of PDS foodgrains. Levelling charges against the officer, the legislators present in the meeting, including Dattatreya Patil Revoor, Subhash Guttedar, Avinash Jadhav and Rajkumar Patil Telkur, said that the officers are hand in glove with criminals selling PDS foodgrains in the black market. Mr. Karjol directed that licence of PDS shops selling foodgrains illegally be cancelled.
Mr. Karjol also directed the officer of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited to prepare a project proposing a 400 kV station under the Green Energy Corridor scheme of the Union government. “At least 100 acres of land and ₹ 800 crore is required to set up a 400 kV station. If the State government provides 100 acres of land, the Centre will bear the project cost (₹ 800 crore),” he said.
Joint Director for Agriculture Rithedranath Sugoor providing details of damage during the recent floods said that the district suffered crop damage on 4.33 hectares of land affecting 2.90 lakh farmers. The government has released ₹ 70 crore and nearly 1.04 lakh beneficiaries in the district received flood relief, he added.
Mr. Kharge expressed displeasure after the meeting came to an abrupt end without reviewing works of various departments. Taking a serious note of the recent incidents of ganja seized, IPL racket raids in the district, the legislator held the local police responsible for lapses in maintaining law and order.
He also urged Mr. Karjol to convene a review meeting to discuss works taken up under Kalyana Karnataka Regional Development Board.
