The newly elected body of Mysuru Zilla Panchayat (ZP) in its first general meeting on Thursday, approved action plan for various schemes and projects worth Rs 1,040.16 crore for the current year at the ZP auditorium, here, on Thursday.
While Primary and Secondary Education department received a major share of fund of Rs 57.18 crore, handloom textile and science and technology received just Rs 5 lakh each, while Watershed Development department drew blank.
Former president and current ZP member B Pushpa Amarnath said, due to the moral code of conduct, various development works across the district had been delayed. “Before the approval of the action plan, subjects should have been discussed in the respective standing committees to make them effective. Many works need to be modified,” she said.
Staff crunch
It came to light that Animal Husbandry and other departments in the district are suffering due to shortage of staff. Animal Husbandry Deputy Director Dr P M Prasad Murthy said, of 735 sanctioned posts, 248 were lying vacant. “As on March 31, 24 veterinary officers, eight assistant directors, six drivers, and 125 group ‘D’ employees posts were lying vacant. The government has sanctioned only one lab technician post to the district but, even that is lying vacant. The district has 189 veterinary institutions catering to over 10.86 lakh cattle, including goats and sheep. The department is administering Entrotoxaemia and Food and Mouth Disease (F&D) vaccination for goats, sheep and cattle once in six months and the process is 100% success, Murthy added.
Only 10% forest
Deputy Conservator of Forests (Social Forestry) Nagaraj Achar said, as per norms, forest cover should be 33%, but Mysuru district has only 10%. “The department has taken measures to increase the forest cover through various initiatives. It needs the support of the ZP and other departments to develop forest cover,” he added.
ZP CEO P A Gopal asked the DCF to link Rural Employment Guarantee programme to afforestation project to provide jobs for villagers and poor people.
Health dept launches drive
The District and Health and Family Welfare department has launched a week-long dengue awareness programme from Thursday. District Health Officer Dr B Basavaraju said, the department has identified 131 dengue patients in the district till January and thus the awareness camp has been launched.
The DHO said that the fever is rampant in urban areas, compared to rural region. The authorities have identified 95 dengue-affected persons in urban region.
Three vehicles, comprising a doctor, a lab technician, a group D employee in each, are on a mission to check dengue. The DHO said, unhygienic and stagnant water spread dengue and thus the department has urged local authorities to maintain hygiene.
Education dept aims high
Deputy Director for Public Instruction H R Basappa said after the department initiated ‘Mysuru Guri Nooru’, the quality of education had increased in the district. “The district, which was in the 23rd place in SSLC ranking two years ago has made good progress. In the previous examination, the district stood in the eight place in the State. Now, the department aims to be in the top five list and thus various programmes have been chalked out to strengthen the system,” he said.
Zilla Panchayat president Nayeema Sultana chaired the meeting, vice-president Kaiyamballi was present.
Published 16 June 2016, 18:17 IST