ZP chief urges DC to give permission to extract sand

Zilla Panchayat president B A Harish has exhorted the district administration to allow sand mining in the district in the interest of beneficiaries of various housing schemes.

Harish, who was presiding over the Karnataka Development Programme review meeting here on Tuesday questioned the rationale behind booking poor people who extract sand from streams for building their houses.

He asked the Mines and Geology department officer to hold talks with the deputy commissioner to ensure that sand is available for the beneficiaries of government housing schemes.

Meanwhile, ZP vice president Lokeshwari Gopal asked the officials concerned to withdraw the cases registered against poor people on the charge of extracting sand from streams.

Mines and Geology department senior officer Reshma said that permission had been obtained to extract sand at 17 locations in the district. She added that the beneficiaries of the housing schemes will be enabled to receive sand from the approved sand blocks.

Harish asked the forest department to take steps initiate action on shifting troublesome wild elephants to faraway locations. Assistant Conservator Forests Dayanand said a proposal has already been submitted to the government to shift five wild elephants in the region.

The ZP chief said that the PWD and Panchayat Raj should undertake steps to repair the roads in their respective jurisdictions. He also said that the officials from Youth Empowerment and Sports department should provide necessary amenities to the students at sports
hostels.

Social justice standing committee president C K Bopanna suggested conducting yoga sessions for children in schools. He complained about the scarcity of doctors in government hospital in Gonikoppa. “All medicines should be made available at all the government hospitals. Many of the hospitals are not having stock of medicines,” Bopanna said. He urged the authorities concerned to open paddy purchase centres in the district.

Agriculture and Industries Standing Committee president Sarojamma said that the anganwadi workers should be paid remuneration on time.

ZP Vice President Lokeshwari Gopal asked the officials to maintain the anganwadi centre in Pushpagiri hills in Somvarpet taluk, in a proper way.

Kannada Sahitya Parishat district president Lokesh Sagar stressed on the need to complete the works on Kala Bhavana in Kushalnagar. He pointed out that it had been seven years since the work started. PWD Executive Engineer Ibrahim said that only the interior design of the Bhavan was pending.

The building will be handed over to the department of Kannada and Culture in the next 15 days.

Zilla Panchayat chief executive officer K Lakshmipriya was present in the meeting.