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.