Members took officials of the Varahi Irrigation Project to task for the slow pace of implementation of the project in the district, at the zilla panchayat general body meeting here on Saturday.
Raising the issue, Ganapati Sriyan, member, said that it was 35 years since the Varahi Irrigation Project was launched, but there was no sign of its completion.
When it was started in 1979, the project was estimated to cost Rs. 9.43 crore. Although nearly Rs. 569 crore has been spent on the project, it was nowhere near completion. The project was expected to provide irrigation facilities to 33 villages in Kundapur taluk and 35 villages in Udupi taluk.
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The projected length of the Varahi Right Bank Canal (RBC) is 42.37 km. But land acquisition has taken place for just 24 km.
Ananth Movady, member, said that in spite of the inordinate delay in the completion of the project, the Deputy Commissioner R. Vishal had defended the absence of officials from Varahi Irrigation Project at the Kundapur taluk-level review meeting on November 29, 2014, on the grounds that officials from Major Irrigation projects need not attend such meetings. Under Section 143 of the Panchayat Raj Act, these officials could be summoned to the meeting, he said.
Intervening, M. Kangavalli, ZP CEO, said that while projects officials could be directed to attend Kundapur Taluk Panchayat meeting, it was not clear if they could be asked to attend taluk-level review meetings.
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