Minister furious over lackadaisical attitude of officials

District In-charge Minister V Sunil Kumar expressed disappointment over the apathy of officials who had remained absent at the Mangaluru Taluk Panchayat Karnataka Development Programmes (KDP) meeting held at Zilla Panchayat hall on Friday.

The minister observed that the works under the Jal Jivan Mission had been delayed considerably.

When an official blamed the contractor for postponing work, the minister, seething with anger, sought an answer on whether the government should obey contractors.

It is the responsibility of officials to get works completed ahead of schedule, he said and directed the official to ensure that the works were completed before the onset of monsoon.

Sunil Kumar said if the information furnished by the officials was found to be inaccurate during field inspections, serious action will be initiated.

When the minister sought information on the progress of PWD works, ZP Chief Executive Officer Dr Kumar said that PWD Assistant Executive Engineer Chandrashekhar was not present in the meeting.

The minister directed the CEO to serve a notice to the official for his apathy.

The official soon arrived at the meeting after being informed over the phone.

Officials from the labour department and Nirmithi Kendra were also absent from the meeting.

“This indicates that the officials are not serious about their work,” the minister said.

‘Accelerate work on MRF’

He directed officials to expedite work on the Material Recover Facility (MRF) in the taluk.

He also directed officials from the electricity department not to seek No Objection Certificates (NOC) from Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) in order to provide electrification to houses in rural areas. The condition has been waived by the department, he said.

‘Initiate action against teachers’

Mangaluru City North MLA Dr Y Bharat Shetty demanded action against the government and private school teachers who have been posting derogatory comments against the government and elected representatives on social media.

Some of them are making remarks on communally sensitive issues, setting a bad trend, he said and urged the DDPI to issue notices to such teachers.

“At some places, government schools, fair price shops and medical shops were also closed during a bandh call given in the hijab issue,” he said.