Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (HB)

Udupi, Aug 25: The eighth general meeting of Zilla Panchayat here, on Thursday, August 24, was dominated by issues pertaining spillover construction works apart from the recurrant sand crisis issue.

The meeting that was marked by heated discussions right from the start, saw more than 10 ZP members including president Dinakar Babu and vice-president Sheela Shetty walk out of the meeting quoting mismanagement in spillover works. After an hour of discussions outside, they got back to meeting.

Proposal of Rs 50 lac worth work per constituency
 
President Dinakar Babu said, "All members should prepare a plan of Rs 50 lac worth of works to be submitted the state government. Strict action will taken against those who have violated the measures and done additional works, in the next  15 days."

Land encroachment by bar and restaurant

Another ZP member of Kundapur complained about Garija Bar and Restaurant encroaching Zilla Panchayat land. "They did not get a NOC from the respective panchayat. Immediate action must be taken against them," the member demanded.

Pending Bills vs new action plan

Janardhan Thonse, zilla Panchayat member raised the issue of pending bills for the Basava Vasathi plan. "The plan was completed. But the bill remained pending for two months despite having the GPS record. This was why Basava Vasathi plan failed to be implemented in the district," said Thonse.

The concerned department executive engineer describing the report for the sanctioned funds said, "The government has released Rs 24 crore for previous year's action plan. Of that, Rs 16.32 crore was allocated for construction works. A total of 530 works are yet to be completed."

Pratap Hegde Marali demanded a sketch of the new action plan for current financial year. "Works amounting to a total of Rs 27 crores are kept pending. The current action plan is made without considering the zilla Panchayat members," he blamed.

He also said, "Most of the works added to the action plan were ones listed out by Byndoor MLA Gopal Poojary. The district administration has shown discrimination by not consulting the other ZP members."

"Proposed works amounting to Rs 5 crore have been dropped by the government. Besides, it requires Rs 24.74 crore to complete the action plan," explained the executive engineer.

Sand crisis

Marali said, "The current burning issue is sand crisis. The district administration brought a Caviet order on 37 traditional sand block owners of the total 170 sand blocks under CRZ." He also accused the district in charge minister of playing a role in the same.

"The district administration should allow sand extraction for the coastal disctrict. Poor suffer due to the restrictions. The mining department should give clarity about activities in the CRZ area."

Mining department officer tried to explain to the members about the guidelines of CRZ, but ZP members were not satisfied by the explanation.

"If the district authority does not withdraw the Caviet order on the 37 sand block owners, the sand owners will go to High Court to bring a stay order on sand extraction ban. Instead of suffering, it is better to take a firm stand against sand extraction in Coastal region," warned Marali

DC Priyanka Mary Francis, ZP CEO Shivanand Pavasi and other committee members were present.