The Hindu   08.08.2012

Officials told to expedite work on water supply schemes

Officials of the zilla panchayat engineering division have come under the scanner for not expediting drinking water supply schemes.

At a monthly meeting held here on Tuesday, the zilla panchayat members and Chief Executive Officer P.A. Meghannavar took the engineers to task for delay in executing the drinking water supply schemes under the task force project, even as the district was facing drought.

Criticising the attitude of the engineers, Mr. Meghannavar said that of the Rs. 4.90 crore released under the task force project, the officials spent Rs. 3.6 crore. Of the 256 works under this project, 57 were under different stages of construction and 27 were yet to start. The officials have not uploaded the information of expenditure on the website, he said.

Mr. Meghannavar instructed officials to take up the works on priority.

Referring to complaints about the district receiving less amount of crop insurance, he said the officials of the Department of Agriculture and Department of Statistics had not provided information to the government. Officials of these departments should form a team and collect data of crop loss and make sure farmers receive maximum possible benefits, he said.

Mr. Meghannavar instructed the panchayat development officers and executive officers of the taluk panchayats to be accessible to people in their respective jurisdictions. People in rural areas should be given jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) , he said.

Regarding delay in clearing medical reimbursement bills, Mr. Meghannavar said that no reimbursement bills should be kept pending for more than three days at the zilla panchayat.

Raising the drought issue, Amrut Desai, ZP member, demanded a special package for drought-hit farmers. The government should give compensation of Rs. 1 lakh per hectare to all farmers. The legislators should take up the issue with the government, he said. However, the meeting failed to pass any resolution in this regard.

The zilla panchayat members said they would donate their salary for two months towards the drought relief fund.