Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Jul 8: The committee comprising Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat (ZP) chief accounts officer, Timmappa, joint director the department of agriculture, Padmaiah Nayak, and Mangalore taluk agricultural assistant director, K Narayan, has completed its investigation into the scandal in the district department of horticulture, which came to light after huge quantity of pesticides was found to have been dumped in a well in Kadri Park on June 9 this year. The driver of the vehicle in which these items were transported to the well, had committed suicide later.

The report was forwarded by the ZP chief executive officer, P Shivashankar, to the secretary in the department of horticulture, Bangalore, on Tuesday July 6. The investigators have reportedly found stocks past their expiry dates, worth over five lac rupees,  in the godown of the department, while items worth over Rs 2.08 lac have gone missing. The committee found that the department did not maintain proper records for the items purchased for being distributed to farmers, and went on buying things, without maintaining records about the disposal or distribution of items bought by it earlier. The committee has recommended action against the officials in the department for failing to maintain records as required. It is also found that the neem oil cakes stocked by the department and supplied to some farmers, was of inferior quality.

Deputy director of the department, Hema, previous deputy director, C G Nagaraj, senior assistant horticulture director, Seema, her predecessors, Mangala and Sadashiva Rao, and a few more officials are likely to face action, based on the above report.

It is gathered that Ravishankar, a progressive farmer from Beltangady, has already complained to the Lokayukta about the improper functioning of the department of horticulture. At the same time, intense lobbying is also on in Bangalore to save the officials concerned, reports said.