Taking note of the good spell of pre-monsoon rainfall that Ballari district received in the current year as compared to the previous ones, Transport Minister and Ballari in-charge B. Sriramulu has said that farmers are preparing fields for sowing and the district administration, especially the Agriculture Department, should ensure proper supply of seeds, fertilizers and other farm inputs to them.
He was chairing a quarterly review meeting at the Zilla Panchayat Conference Hall in Ballari on Wednesday.
“Farmers are preparing their fields for sowing. The district administration should ensure proper supply of agricultural inputs, especially seeds and fertilizers, required for sowing. Agriculture and horticulture officers should approach farmers and convince them of the need to get insurance for their crops. It will help us protect farmers against crop loss for various reasons,” Mr. Sriramulu said.
Responding to the Minister, Joint Director of Agriculture Mallikarjun told the meeting that the district has enough seeds and fertilizers in stock.
“We have enough stock of fertilisers and there will be no issues of scarcity. The district has received 85 mm rainfall in the current month against the normal precipitation of 24 mm for the month,” Mr. Mallikarjun said.
Free bus pass
Referring to the State Government’s decision to offer free bus pass to construction workers, Mr. Sriramulu told District Labour Officer Kamal Altaf Ahmad to distribute bus pass to 51,000 registered construction workers within two months.
Stressing the need for generating more jobs under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Mr. Sriramulu directed the Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer to focus on asset creation for gram panchayats and the Agriculture, Horticulture and Forest departments under the scheme.
“As many as 1.67 lakh job cards have been distributed among 4.75 lakh workers in the district. However, only 1.14 lakh cards covering 2.59 lakh workers are active. Where have the other workers gone? You need to give work to them also. If officers take the job scheme seriously, it will ensure the development of the district. Everybody [referring to officers] is interested in dredging streams and nothing else,” MLA from Sandur E. Tukaram said, expressing his unhappiness.
Zilla Panchayat Deputy Secretary Srikumar told the meeting that the district generated 88.66 lakh mandays against a target of 46.23 lakh mandays last year to record 105% achievement. He added that 17 lakh mandays has already been generated in the current year against the annual target of 42 lakh mandays for the year.
Lok Sabha member Y. Devendrappa, legislators G. Somashekhar Reddy, B. Nagendra and Y.M. Sathish, district in-charge secretary Ajay Nagabhushan, Deputy Commissioner Pavan Kumar Malapati, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer G. Lingamurthy and other senior government functionaries were present.
