ZP chief loses his cool at progress review meeting

Srinivasan took Deputy Secretary Venkataramanappa to task for not furnishing details about the progress made in various development programmes.

 Chief Executive Officer G V Rangarao, who tried to put the blame on the Deputy Secretary saying the latter was the nodal officer, was also on the receiving end, when Srinivasan chided him saying, “You should have followed up on the progress.”

The major part of the meeting was spent discussing the progress made by the Health Department. The president questioned the District Health and Family Welfare Department official, Dr N Ramesh Babu, about the measures taken to implement programmes under the National Rural Health Mission and the utilisation of funds for the same. Dr Ramesh’s reply to the query saying he ‘would check with the nodal officer and provide the information’, angered the ZP president.

Raising the issue of family planning operations, Srinivasan asked: “Why are you performing all the operations? Aren’t there other doctors? In reply, Dr Ramesh maintained that he was the only doctor in the district who was experienced to perform laproscopic surgeries. While this irked the ZP chief even more, he directed the official to not perform the operations, saying: “The administrative functions are suffering and funds are being misused because you do not  have the ti me. Henceforth, you should not perform operations and instead focus on administration.”

Occupancy in hostels

The low occupancy rate at the hostels run by the Social Welfare Department was also raised at the meeting. “There has been a 23 per cent decrease in the number of students in Srinivasapura, 18 pc in Kolar, 16 pc in Mulbagal abd 25 pc in Malur,” Srinivasan said and ordered the officials to go back and cross-check their facts.
A complaint was also raised about the delay in identifying beneficiaries due to the lackadaisical attitude of the officials.

Apart from the district-level officials, the ZP President also pulled up the deputy secretaries at the panchayat-level.