Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Priyank Kharge on Friday, November 3, told the officials in Mysuru to work towards improving the groundwater resource for addressing drinking water needs.
Mysuru has two rivers – Cauvery and Kapila – and the availability of water is relatively more in the district. There should not be any water shortage if the groundwater was recharged, he felt.
At a review meeting held at the ZP office here, the Minister said the State was reeling under drought and the first priority must be to provide drinking water. The officials must identify villages that are vulnerable to face drinking water scarcity in the next six months and take steps for supplying water to such villages.
Before identifying the villages facing water shortage, the matter has to be discussed with the local MLAs, he said.
Mr. Kharge said T. Narsipur, Periyapatna and Nanjangud were lagging behind in generating man-days under MGNREGA and the employment days are less than 50 percent in these taluks. Since there is drought everywhere, efforts should be made for generating more man days under MGNREGA, he advised.
Mr. Kharge said the State’s MGNREGA man-days this year was 13 crore but only 10 crore man-days had been achieved so far.
The Minister expressed displeasure that the man-days in Mysuru district were not on expected lines and told the officials to achieve the target of generating 34 lakh man-days by the end of the financial year.
The Minister also told the ZP CEO to take up the work of rejuvenating the “Kalyanis” (water ponds) under MGNREGA.
The Minister directed to recover money from the respective officials with regard to the irregularities in works in the gram panchayats. The irregularities had been mentioned in the audit reports.
Mr. Kharge suggested that the possibilities of taking up bamboo cultivation in Mysuru, H.D. Kote, Hunsur and Periyapatna taluks can be explored. Nearly 20 percent of MGNREGA works were pending and these works have to be completed soon.
The Minister said the payment of salaries to the staff of GPs may be hit if tax collection was not adequate. The tax collection in the GPs was not as expected and the target set for tax collection in GPs has not been achieved. The panchayat development officers must focus on improving tax collection.
Anil Chikkamadu, H.D. Kote MLA, said H.D. Kote taluk has more forest cover and tribals in these areas are into honey production. But there is no proper platform for them to market the honey and therefore a marketing facility needs to be set up in the taluk for the benefit of tribals. He also suggested converting the unused community halls into libraries.
