District in-charge Minister Umashree reprimanded officials for the slow pace of work in drinking water supply schemes in a Karnataka Development Programme Review meeting in Bidar on Saturday.
She asked Deputy Commissioner P.C Jaffer and zilla panchayat chief executive officer Sharat B. to take serious action against officials who had led to the delay in completing drinking water supply works.
She said a committee of legislators and officials would assess the status of the drinking water projects work taken up under the Jal Nirmal scheme in the district.
“Twenty-five projects have been taken up at an estimated Rs. 85 crore. These were supposed to be handed over to gram panchayats in various taluks. However, some delayed and others face complaints of low-quality work. Others were not handed over to the user agencies and their status will be assessed,” she said.
As a first step, the drinking water supply division of the Panchayat Raj Engineering Department will inspect each project and submit a report to the zilla panchayat chief executive officer, she said. Then, the committee, which will include the MLA, the ZP CEO, the Deputy Commissioner and other officials, will verify the report by visiting the projects, she said. “Any officer found involved in any kind of irregularity, slow pace of work or low-quality of work will be punished,” she said.
Earlier, officials informed her that they had spent almost all of the Rs. 13.5 crore released by the State government for drought relief, but had not submitted utilisation certificates for the amount.
“This is why the State government has not released any additional funds for relief. People are suffering from water scarcity while you are delaying paper work. This is unacceptable,” she said.
Ashok Kheny, MLA, alleged there was a nexus between officials, politicians and contractors. “Officials go around telling contractors that they should consult the zilla panchayat member before bidding for any civil work in the constituency. This is improper,” he said. “In my constituency, officials have awarded contracts for water supply work to members of the same family, despite knowing that they are not qualified to do such work. This has all been done under pressure from politicians. How can I allow that?,” he asked.
Ms. Umashree said that action would be initiated against officials who were found to be involved in such activities.
The Minister’s comment that MLAs get officers posted to their constituencies ruffled a few feathers. Ishwar Khandre, MLA, said that he had never interfered with the postings of officials to the district. “I will neither ask the government to post someone to my constituency nor remove someone from there. I never interfere with their work,” he said.
Rajshekar Patil, MLA, supported him. Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli, MLA, said the Minister was free to take action against those erring officials and he would have nothing to say about it.
Ms Umashree clarified that she only meant that MLAs should ask the government to shift non-performing officers out of their taluks.
She agreed to lead a delegation to Chief Minister seeking compensation to farmers who suffered crop loss.
