Taking note of people falling sick owing to the consumption of contaminated water, Ballari Lok Sabha member Y. Devendrappa has directed officials to focus on implementing multi-village drinking water supply schemes to provide safe drinking water to people in rural areas.
He also expressed discontentment over the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission, a Union government programme for supplying safe tap water for drinking to every household in rural areas, in the district.
“The implementation of the Mission is unsatisfactory. In many places, the drinking water supply projects taken up under the Mission have become defunct after work has been completed. The higher officials should constitute a committee to look into such projects and ensure that they are restarted. Moreover, the reverse osmosis plants have stopped functioning at many places and the officials concerned should take the issue seriously and address it,” Mr. Devendrappa said.
He was speaking at the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA) meeting at the Nazir Sab Conference Hall in the Ballari Zilla Panchayat on Monday.
Garments unit
Pointing to the increasing demand for garments manufactured in Ballari, especially jeans, the parliamentarian asked the Skill Development Department to hold jeans stitching training programmes for unemployed women.
“Ballari jeans have greater demand in the Indian market. The demand is gradually growing. We need to encourage jeans manufacturing with multiple initiatives. One among them is training unemployed women in jeans stitching. Such initiatives will also create employment opportunities and boost the garment sector,” he said.
Referring to the complaints of houses sanctioned to beneficiaries getting blocked for various reasons, Mr. Devendrappa asked the officials to pinpoint the issues and address them so that no beneficiary is deprived of his right to have a house under a government scheme.
“If a beneficiary cannot finish work on his house within the stipulated time for any reason, the house sanctioned to him under the government scheme will be blocked. Officials should take the initiative to avoid such a situation. They should give notice to the beneficiaries and help them to complete work on their houses within the stipulated time,” he said.
When Koppal Lok Sabha member Karadi Sanganna inquired about the progress of Ballari-Hosapete and Ballari-Siruguppa national highway development projects, the National Highway Authority officers failed to provide any information.
“People question. However, higher-level officers of the National Highway Authority of India never attended DISHA meetings. They simply send some lower-level employees who have no information about the projects. They should be served with notice,” Mr. Sanganna said.
In his briefing, District Mineral Foundation (DMF) special officer P.S. Manjunath told the meeting that six action plans have been prepared for using funds under the foundation in the district and 1,406 works have been taken up at a cost of ₹1,593.68 crore.
“Of the 1,406 works, 989 have been completed, 169 are in progress, 77 are ready for tender after administrative approvals, 108 are in the tendering process and 63 have been cancelled. Of the ₹1,593.68 crore allocated for these six action plans, ₹597.91 crore have been released,” Mr. Manjunath said.
When Mr. Sanganna asked the officer about the cancelled works, Mr. Manjunath said that the matter will be taken up in the next DMF Governing Council meeting to be convened by the district in-charge Minister and an appropriate decision will be taken.
Member of Legislative Council M.Y. Sathish, Ballari Mayor D. Triveni, Deputy Commissioner Prashant Kumar Mishra, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Rahul Sharanappa Sankanur and others were present.
