The Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Panchayat, N Shanthappa, on Tuesday expressed his disappointment about the ineff- ective utilisation of funds released for providing basic amenities at the Sch eduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes colonies in the district.

Participating in the progress review meeting organised at the ZP office, the Chief Executive Officer took the district social welfare officer, Siddaraju, to task. “The funds allocated for developing basic amenities in these colonies have been released completely. But officials have not utilised the funds.”

He instructed all the assistant executive engineers in the taluk and the TP CEO to submit a report on the funds released and a plan of action to utilise them.

Miffed by absentees

The absence of the district officer for the Ambedkar Abhivrudhi Nigam at the meeting angered Shanthappa, who recalled that the officer did not attend the district monitoring cell.

 “He is intentionally missing all the meetings. Union Minister K H Muniyappa wants to increase the grants allocated to the Board, but the officer is not available for discussions,” he said.

He added that the officer had failed to provide any information to the district in-charge minister about the projects undertaken by the Board.

“Since the district in-charge minister is also the social welfare minister of the State, it would be wise to take his support and ensure that all the projects are implemented in the district,” he advised.

Priority to water

Shanthappa also pointed taht the backwardclass welfare  department had also failed to utilise the grants allocated to them.

“There is a massive scarcity of water in the district,” Shanthappa said and advised Bescom officers to give priority to supply of drinking water while supplying electricity to borewells. He also asked them to organise an interaction with beneficiaries of Ganga Kalyana Yojane.

Earlier

The officers and other staff introduced themselves to the newly elected ZP president and vice-president.

ZP president Manjula, vice-president G Somashekar, Chief Accountants Officer Ganganna, Planning Officer Lakshminarayan and others were present on the occasion.