The Hindu : Give priority to drought relief: CS

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 31, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Give priority to drought relief: CS

By Our Staff Correspondent

CHITRADURGA MAY 30. The Chief Secretary, B.S. Patil, on Friday, instructed the district administration to take up drought relief works and drinking water supply schemes on priority.

Mr. Patil, who is on a two-day visit to the district with top Government officials to review drought relief works and development projects, was addressing a review meeting. The district-level officials of various departments and people's representatives participated.

Raghunandan, Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, said a plan to provide drinking water in the district for 90 days, if the drought situation continued, at a cost of Rs.4 crore had been prepared. Electrification of water supply schemes was an urgent need. He set a June 30 deadline for the purpose. The second phase of the drinking water project for the town would be completed within two years. It was proposed to lift water from the Shantisagar in Davangere District at a cost of Rs.79 crore.

He said the food-for-work scheme should be used as a tool to tackle rural unemployment. The foodgrains would be provided by the district administration, he added.

Mr. Patil said opening of fodder banks and goshalas to rehabilitate cattle was left to the district administration.

The Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Commission, H. Hanumantappa, and G.H. Thippa Reddy, M. Chandrappa, and N.Y. Gopala Krishna, MLAs, urged the Government to come to the rescue of cattle by opening goshalas and fodder banks.

It was brought to the notice of the meeting that no house had been allotted to the beneficiaries under various schemes in Hiriyur as the list had not been approved by the Minister for Forests, K.H. Ranganath, who represents the constituency.

Mr. Patil said the poor progress of the district in the housing sector was because of the lack of documentation and submission of proposals. The Chief Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat would be held responsible for the lapses in the allotment of houses. The meeting noted that if the monsoon failed this year also, two lakh agricultural labourers would be rendered unemployed in the district. Around Rs.25 lakh would be needed to provide fodder to cattle and Rs. 1.45 crore towards seed subsidy.

The zilla panchayat President, Soubhagya Basavarajan, urged Mr. Patil to provide the remaining funds to complete the work on the building of the panchayat. The latter promised to release special funds for the purpose.

To stem the desertification of the region, there was an urgent need to take up watershed development and afforestation programmes in a big way, the Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner, Vijay Gore, said. Mr. Hanumantappa urged the Chief Secretary to speed up the proposal to start a food-processing unit in the district and link Chitradurga with the Hampi tourism circuit.

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Give priority to drought relief: CS