Absence of senior officials at development meeting irks MP

 MP R. Dhruvanarayan seen addressing the development meeting as ZP CEO K. Jyothi, MP Pratap Simha, ZP President Nayeema Sulthana and MLA Anil Chikkamadu look on

Mysuru: Chamarajanagar MP R. Dhruvanarayan has instructed Chief Executive Officer of Mysuru Zilla Panchayat to issue show-cause notices to officers who failed to attend the Mysuru District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee meeting that was held at Zilla Panchayat Hall.

The MP, who was chairing the meeting at ZP Hall yesterday, was upset as some of the officers stayed away from the meeting. Some higher officers had deputed their junior officers to the meeting. He expressed his displeasure over their absence.

“This is an important meeting and the officers have no reason to stay away from the meeting. Shockingly, they do not take such meetings seriously and that is why they have deputed their subordinates,” the MP told K. Jyothi, the ZP CEO and asked her to issue notices.

Dhruvanarayan chided district-level officials for not making sincere efforts in implementing centre-sponsored schemes. He also took BSNL officials to task for their poor service.

‘Maintain protocol’

Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha, who was also present at the meeting, vented his ire against District Administration over the issue of not maintaining protocol. He alleged that officials of Hunsur and Periyapatna Taluks had not invited him for the inauguration of various development works implemented under the funds provided by the Union Government. Only local MLAs and Panchayat officials were invited while the MP was ignored, he alleged.  

Coming down heavily on officials of Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement (DCRE) for their administrative lapses, Prathap Simha wanted the ZP CEO to take stern action on these department officials. He alleged that the DCRE officials were not taking any action on people who misused SC/ST certificates to obtain jobs.

He said the Union Government had brought two sub-sects of Valmiki and Nayaka community like Parivara and Talawara under ST category. ZP CEO should issue directions to taluk-level officials not to harass people while issuing ST certificates to Parivara and Talawara communities.

He also criticised the poor functioning style of Panchayat Development Officers at Gram Panchayat level and wanted Taluk Panchayat Executive Officers to implement Centre and State-sponsored schemes and take action on erring PDOs.

He also castigated officials for not ensuring electricity to poor households under Deendayal Grama Jyoti Yojana or Soubhagya Yojana. ZP President Nayeema Sulthana, MLAs Anil Chikkamadu and Yathindra Siddharamaiah were present.

Dig trenches to prevent wild elephant menace, forest officers told: Taking   serious note of the complaints of wild animals menace, MP R. Dhruvanarayan also instructed Forest department officials to dig Elephant-Proof Trench (EPT) to prevent elephants from straying into human habitation.

Speaking at the meeting, he wanted department officials to expedite the process of distribution of compensation for the farmers who had suffered loss from wild animal menace besides opening elephant camps to tackle wild jumbo menace.

He asked officials to see if the compensation amount can be increased for crop loss. At present, Rs 10,000 per acre is being given for the loss.

Responding to such complaints, Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) K.T. Hanumanthappa assured to take necessary measures to check wild animals from entering human habitats. He said there are no programmes to erect solar fence or railway fence at present.

The DCF said that a compensation amount of Rs 25 lakh for 230 crop loss cases in Hunsur and H.D. Kote taluks under Nagarahole Tiger Reserve that were reported till March end have been distributed.  

This post was published on December 2, 2018 6:53 pm