'Pay wages in 3 days'

Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda instructed officials on Thursday that workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) should be paid their pending wages in the next three days.

He also directed that fodder should be provided to cattle in the drought-affected taluks at 50 per cent the cost.

The chief minister was speaking after receiving information from officials about the relief works undertaken and listening to grievances of the people during a visit to the border villages of Chintaki and Yanagunda in the taluk.

Villagers made a beeline for the chief minister to list out their woes. They told Gowda that there was a severe scarcity of fodder for the cattle. The chief minister was welcomed in the villages with slogans hailing him. But, he told them not to do so, as he was on a visit to get first hand information about the problems of the people who are reeling under severe drought.

The CM said the rules could be relaxed as applicable to the drought-hit areas. The Department of Rural Development had issued a circular relaxing the rule which necessitates inspection of works by an independent team before payments are made to the workers, Gowda said.

He also said he will take an all-party delegation to New Delhi on May 2 and update the Prime Minister on the drought situation. He instructed local MLA Prabhu Chouhan to review the progress of works in these villages after a week.

The chief minister asked Deputy Commissioner Sameer Shukla to depute a special officer to oversee payment of dues under MGNREGS in these
villages.