BELLARY: The general body of the Bellary Zilla Panchayat, which met here on Saturday, unanimously resolved to take an all party delegation to meet Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and urge him to release funds for projects taken up under the special package of schemes for the development of Bellary district.

K.S.L. Swamy, MLC, and Akki Thotesh of the Congress, drew the attention of the meeting to several languishing projects under the scheme owing to lack of funds. Bills of contractors amounting to several crore rupees were pending, they added.

They urged president of the zilla panchayat Durgamma to take a delegation to meet Mr. Yediyurappa, who holds the Finance portfolio, and request him to include the proposals in the ensuing budget. "This has to be done at the earliest before the supplementary budget is finalised," Mr. Swamy said.

It was during S.M. Krishna's tenure that the Rs. 3,300-crore special package of schemes for Bellary district was announced as a token of gratitude to the district for electing All-India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi from the Bellary Parliamentary Constituency in 1999.

The Rs. 2,500-crore 500-MW Bellary Thermal Power Station at Kuditini, health services, drinking water schemes, school buildings and roads were among the projects included under the scheme.

However, the members pointed out that with the change of Government in the State, flow of funds for the projects had stopped. Some of the projects, apart from the thermal power station, were incomplete, as funds were not released, while for others that were completed, the bills were yet to be paid, they added.

They said Rs. 12 crore were needed to complete ongoing works and to clear pending bills. Meanwhile, the contractors, in a memorandum explaining their hardship owing to non-payment of bills for four years, have urged the president to arrange for the release of Rs. 9 crore at the earliest.

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