Pic: Spoorthi Ullal

Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Aug 9: Opposition leader of the Legislative Council Kota Srinivas Poojary has alleged failure on the part of the state government in utilizing the grants provided by the central government.

Addressing the media on Thursday, August 9, he said, “I have travelled across the state after becoming the opposition leader and have noticed that the wheels of administration have come to a halt. For OBC students, the state government is running more than 3,000 hostels. I visited a few OBC hostels in Gadag and life there is horrible. There is no drinking water, no toilets and no electricity. Students are deprived of good food. In some hostels, animals and students are staying in the same room. There is no warden in hostels to take care of students. Minister for Social Welfare Priyank Kharge needs to ensure that the OBC hostels which are in a dilapidated condition are reconstructed and all the hostels are maintained.

“Mangaluru has been selected for the Smart City Project by the central government. It is now the responsibility of the state, to look into the process and implement the project as per guidelines. However, the district administration reveals that the state government has not yet appointed a MD for smart city project. Tenders are left incomplete, plans are not sketched and there is a lack of clarity. The state government should immediately appoint a MD to look into the Mangaluru smart city project,” he demanded.

"As per the deputy commissioner’s report to government, Dakshina Kannada has 34,800 hectares of deemed forest. In Udupi it is 34,000 hectares. Recently Revenue Minister RV Deshpande has issued a circular to officials stating not to consider applications from people seeking land in these areas for constructing houses for poor. This is not acceptable. By this order, government is crushing the hopes of poor to own a piece of land. So it is my request to the government to withdraw this circular immediately," he said.

“By the grant of central government, state government introduced 102 drinking water projects in district. But in this, 42 projects are not working. It shows how the state government is misusing central governments funds. Totally, state government has failed in all areas of development,” he lashed out.

Mangaluru South MLA Vedavyas Kamath, Jithendra Kottari, Ravishankar Mijar, Sanjay Prabhu, Nithin Kumar were present.