Speaking after releasing a brochure on the lines of “Bharat Nirman”, a programme jointly organised by Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry, district administration and Zilla Panchayat here on
On Saturday, Prakash said that state governments were falling back  in optimum utilisation of  crores of rupees of central grant meant for development works. The public at large too were in the dark on such schemes.
He lamented that benefits of several pro-people schemes formulated by ruling  establishments were not reaching the target population. ‘Bharat Nirman’ aims to disseminate information on several welfare projects designed by the State.

Prakash said that in addition to the central assistance, the  state government had provided budgetary support of Rs 50 cr for Yaragol project, which, upon completion would supply drinking water to Kolar, Malur and Bangarpet.

Scope to be extended

He expressed confidence that in view of availability of funds, the project would be completed within one-and-a-half years. Prakash assured that the scope of the project would be extended to Mulbagal too.

Earlier, legislator Amaresh, who inaugurated the programme said that the Union government had laid stress on rural development and the benefits of such an emphasis should reach the rural populace.

A cumulative sum of Rs 1,75,000 crores had been reserved for projects such as Gram Sadak, Rural Connectivity, Rajiv Gandhi Health Mission and the UPA government intends to take these projects to the people by the end of 2009.

“The Union government is committed to establish Gram Swaraj, a concept propounded by Mahathma Gandhiji and is striving to achieve the goal”.

Director General of Directorate of Field Publicity, Umakanath Mishra, who spoke on the occasion contended that the welfare programmes formulated by the ruling establishments were the sole rights of the  common masses. He lauded the contribution of Karnataka in national development.

Not satisfactory

Disclosing that National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) had not been implemented satisfactorily in the district, Zilla Panchayat chief executive officer F R Jamadar who spoke on the occasion, said that job cards would soon be issued to those who have registered their names under the scheme. He informed that as many as 27 departments had taken part in “Bharat Nirman”.

Laxity

Zilla Panchayat president A C  Nagarathna, who presided over the programme alleged that laxity on the part of officers was hindering successful implementation of various projects.

Inter-Media Publicity Coordination Committee (Karnataka) president A C Frank Naronha, deputy commissioner G R Srinivas, ZP vice-president R Venkatarama Reddy, TP president Sugunamma, assistant commissioner M S Archana, tahasildar Harishilpa and others were present on the occasion.