JOIN USDK ZP resolves to seek more funds for drinking water project
The decision was taken during the 18th general body meeting of the ZP held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of ZP President Venkat Dambekodi.
Raising the issue, MLA U T Khader spoke elaborately about the drinking water problems persisting in Ullal and other region despite heavy rains. Citing example of Meramajal, he said that about 2 years ago, the borewells were dug but no pumpset has been installed. These instances can be found all over the district and this certainly demands questioning the credibility of the engineers.
Member A C Bhandary said that in Kurnad region, though 11 water sources were identified about 3 months ago, no action has been taken to dig the borewell. Representatives from Naravi, Yekkaru, Gurupura and other regions endorsed the views of their counterparts.
Member Thungappa Bangera said that the faulty tender policy is also a main reason for inefficient implementation of drinking water projects.
He said that tenders are called for every stage of digging a borewell and each work is allotted to a different contractors due to which there is delay in execution of work. Members suggested for scrapping off the tender system for drinking water projects.
Sucharitha Shetty said that crores of rupees has been spent on providing rainwater harvesting system in the schools. If at all this is put to right use, water crisis can be reduced to a large extent but unfortunately, the rain harvest pits in most schools are dry.
Chandrashekar Kamath opined that ZP must send a circular to secretaries to direct the schools to put the system into its best use henceforth.
ZP CEO Shivashankar responding to this, said that a sum of Rs 7.76 crore has been earmarked for drinking water project in the action plan. Though an action plan of Rs 53.52 crore was prepared for the same last year, Government provided only Rs 12.66 crore, which means there is a need for romping additional Rs 40 crore for implementation of drinking water projects effectively.
Additional fees
With regard to government schools collecting additional fees from students, Deputy Director for Public Instruction Chamegowda said that they have already sent circulars to all government schools to give back the surplus amount collected as fees.
During a heated discussion over the issue, most of the members objected to the statement of member Shahul Hameed who said that the additional fees thus collected is being misused by the SDMCs. Other members asked Hameed to be specific and name the schools, as they have not come across any such misappropriation in their own constituencies.
Trying to put an end to the discussion, MLA U T Khader said that some additional fees might be collected by the schools to meet certain requirements of the schools as it is difficult to fulfil the needs of the schools using Government funds alone.
However, DDPI assured to look into the matter and send circular to all the government schools in this regard too.
Distribution of outdated energy food in Anganwadis, acquisition of 900 acre of land near Thumbe vented dam and various other issues were also discussed during the meet.