Kolar Zilla Panchayat members see red over apathy of Social Welfare officer

Zilla Panchayat members have demanded the suspension of Anand, the Social Welfare officer. The members alleged that he has been lax in providing basic support and services to students.

The issue of the students hostel is of particular concern to members who expressed anger over Anand’s inability address the shortcomings of the establishment. “The Kittoor Rani Chennamma hostel at Mulbagal is being run in a rented building which has infrastructural problems. There is only one toilet.

The students number 120. Though we have continuously requested that the hostel be moved to a better building for the last 20 months, nothing has been done. The officer just promises, but never does anything,” said ZP member K R Kittappa.

Another member, S B Munivenkatappa, demanded that Anand be suspended. “ We have been asking the officer to shift students to the newly constructed building at Gajaladinne in outskirts of Kolar. But he has ignored our suggestion,” he said.

The Social Welfare officer’s recent statement that the hostel will be shifted within October 30 has failed to convince members considering Anand’s history of broken promises.

But following discussions with ZP members, deputy secretary G F Badanur said that Anand will be given one last chance to fulfill his duty. “He will have to take action within two days and submit the report at a meeting to be presided over by In charge secretary, on September 27,” Badanur said.

ZP president Manjula and vice-president D V Harish have also called for the Social Welfare officer’s suspension. Anand had been recommended for his post by the previous chief executive officer Rajendra Cholan.

Action demanded

ZP members demanded that a doctor who injected a patient suffering from a snake bite with painkillers, be penalised.

Badanur has asked medical officer Lakshminarayan to submit the list of medicine needed to treat snake bites, and said that action will be taken after the list is made available.

Concerning the issue of dengue cases in the district, Lakshminarayan revealed that two people had died because of the disease. “There are 182 suspected cases of dengue in the district out of which 47 people are confirmed sufferers,” he said.

Housing Scheme

It was decided during the meeting to send a ZP member to collect details on proposals made by various taluks in the district, falling under the Basava Housing Scheme.

Out of 30 panchayats in Mulbagal taluk, proposals from only 14 panchayats have been approved. There was a heated argument about proposals from the remaining 16 panchayats.

No subsidy

Members reprimanded Dr Kemparaj, the Programme Officer of the Animal Husbandry Department, for failing to obtain a response from the government over a proposal to obtain a 50 per cent subsidy regarding nutritious food for cattle.

Concerned that there had been no response from the Government for four months, members asked Kemparaj whether he had taken the step of informing the deputy commissioner about this.

Kemparaj responded with a promise to immediately draft a letter to the deputy commissioner, to remind him of the subsidy proposal.