'Udupi lags behind in implementing MGNREGS'

The issue was surfaced amidst heated arguments in the Udupi Zilla Panchayat general body meet held here on Tuesday. Congress members Raju Poojary and Janardhan Thonse raised the issue and accused that the squad introduced to evaluate the success ratio of the programme, has not submitted the report on assigned purpose. The developments in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 fiscal years have not been made public. MGNREGS is a programme that offers plenty of opportunities for development works, they said.

CEO N Rajashekar informed the house that as many as Rs 8 crores have been spent in the year 2009-10 to implement the programme. There are a lot of reasons behind poor implementation of the programme. The scheme offers only Rs 100 as daily wages to the labourers engaged in the work, while they can earn up to Rs 200 per day if they take up jobs outside. However, attempts will be made to implement the programme and procure cent per cent success during this year. The Government has relaxed certain guidelines and has made it easier than before.

Works concerning forest and horticulture is being added to the list and one can hope for the appropriate implementations of the programme, he added.
Meanwhile, Raju Poojary demanded that Panchayat Secretaries should be asked at taluk-level to evaluate the progress of the scheme.

The food problem

The other issue that led to scorching debate was the poor quality of food supplied to the kids in the Anganvadi Kendras of the district. The issue has now been continuously debated in 4 to 5 meetings.

Member Sarasu Bangera said that food with foul smell is being distributed to the children. She demanded a change in the pattern of the food. Government’s circular suggest the same blend of cereals to be distributed in all the districts in the State irrespective of the topography, while the food pattern is very different in different parts of the State, she added.

Karkala MLA Gopal Bhandary questioned the government order assigning the charge for preparing the cereals to a Tamilnadu based company. He demanded that external interference in ZP matters be stopped and the local people have a say in what their kids should eat. Local SHGs should be assigned the task of preparing the cereals, he opined and accused that a lot of corruption is involved in the whole business at present.

Excessive food is distributed to Kendras, for which a huge amount is being credited from the Govt coffers, he added and urged the CEO to pay surprise visits to the Anganvadi Kendras to check out the quality of the food.

The officer concerned added that steamed rice have been added to the package recently instead of puffed rice. Demonstrations have been conducted to try out other mixtures of food. However, the final decision to change the food pattern should be taken at government level, he added.

Fund allocations

Raju Poojary objected to the lackadaisical attitude of the government in making allocations to the ZP. He said that the government has miserably failed to release funds for the maintenance of the roads coming under ZP. There are as many as 8661.31 kms of stretch coming under the jurisdiction of the ZP. The repair works of these stretches is not taking place for two years. Rs 16 crore were allotted during 2008-09 and Rs 1 crore in 2009-10. This year no funds have been released for the maintenance works, he alleged.

Chairman of the Task Force to implement the 3rd Finance Commission report, A G Kodgi advised that the ZP should put pressure on government for its demands. The building structure of ZP is drenched in water. No measures have been taken to repair the building. Executive engineers should be questioned on the issue, he added.

ZP President Gladys Almeida informed that arrangements will be made to take a delegation comprising the members to hold talks with Principal Secretary of State.  Gopal Bhandary pointed out that the district is a victim of Nanjundappa Report. Other districts barring Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi are getting the benefits of most of the development programmes as a result of Nanjundappa Commission recommendations, he added.  Udupi MLA Raghupathy Bhat, Vice President Dr Santhosh Kumar Shetty ZP Assistant Secretary Pranesh Rao and others were present.