Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Sep 25: There are rumours that corridors of power are unhappy with the firm stance owned by Dakshina Kannada district deputy commissioner (DC), V Ponnuraj, relating to issues like payment of huge bills relating to local area development funds of MPs and MLAs, and his insistence on fixing global positioning systems (GPS) in trucks carrying sand.  There are indications that behind-the-scene efforts are under way to unseat him from the district, and that they are likely to succeed.

When the media men contacted him on Friday, Ponnuraj said he also has got clues about such efforts. He said he will abide by the rules, and that there is no question of any lenience in payment of bills or fixing of GPS for sand trucks.

The contractors, whose bills were not paid, had recently held a protest to give vent to their anger. They are agitated over the fact that no steps were taken to release funds from the development funds of the people’s representatives towards payment of their bills. They have pledged not to take up any new works conducted from out of the local area development funds of the MP and MLAs.

The DC says that the contractors had not followed certain formalities connected with the payment of bills, and that photographs of different stages of works had not been attached to the bills. His action in asking officials and engineers to undertake quality check of these works, has also made the contractors and others connected with the works, resentful.

It is learnt that several contractors have decided to hold back their bills for the completed works for the present, as they are almost certain that the DC will not pass them. They are believed to be waiting for the transfer of Ponnuraj before presenting their bills.

The fact that several truck owners have been facing problems to carry on with their illegal operations because of the district administration’s initiatives to mandate fixing of GPS to their vehicles, had been mentioned in the press conference organized recently by the Joint Action Committee of sand transporters. A few office bearers of the committee had expressed their apprehension about the covert efforts being made, with the blessings of the ruling party members, to shift Ponnuraj out of the district.