Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa on Monday informed the Legislative Assembly that a meeting of floor leaders of both Houses of the legislature will be convened on Thursday to discuss the Supreme Court’s order related to providing reservation to OBCs in local bodies.
The Supreme Court recently struck down 27% reservation in favour of OBCs in local bodies made by the Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh Governments.
In reply to an issue raised by Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah, Mr. Eshwarappa said no injustice would be done to OBCs by holding elections to taluk and zilla panchayats in the State. The terms of both local bodies ended more than a year ago. A meeting would be called on Thursday to discuss the apex court order and its implications on holding elections to TPs and ZPs, he said.
Replying to the debate on the department’s budget for the year 2022-23, Mr. Eshwarappa said funds released under the MNREGA would be used to rejuvenation of water bodies to provide potable water connections to households under the Centre’s ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission, also known as “Mane Manege Gange” scheme.
The State Government has targeted to provide potable water to 44.59 lakh rural households during the next two years (2022-24) under the JJM, he said.
Replying to Anita Kumaraswamy (JD-S), Mr. Eshwarappa said meters would be installed in all households for water connections to find out the quantum of consumption of water. But the department has no intention to burden the rural households by charging for consumption of water, he said.
Pending bills
On charges of pending bills of the Opposition under MNREGA, the Minister said bills worth ₹1,000 crore related to purchase of material were pending. However, no bills related to wages were pending. About 16.3 crore man-days of work would be completed in 2021-22, he said.
Referring to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana roads, he said it was proposed to develop 5,377 km of roads under the scheme during the five year term of the Government. So far, 2,932 km of roads have been developed by spending ₹1,800 crore, he said.
