Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Aug 19: The general session of Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat (ZP) was held on Thursday August 18. Because of protracted discussions, the session went on till 8 pm.
In spite of stiff opposition from Congress members and MLA, B Ramanath Rai, the session passed a resolution authorizing the Chief Executive Officer to dissolve Hirebandady gram panchayat in Puttur taluk. The members of this gram panchayat had remained absent without authorization for four continuous sessions, and its president had recommended for the cancellation of membeships of the absentee members.
Congress member, Mamatha Gatti, noted that the counselling for the posts of primary school teachers is being held from August 22 onwards. She said that that the counselling can be extended, if the government decides to appoint one teacher for every 30 students, even in aided schools. She raised the topic during zero hour. Chief executive officer (CE), Vijay Prakash, said that the ZP president will be holding discussions on the subject with the education minister, and that the possibility of extending the counselling will arise if a favourable decision is taken by then. He said that decisions which may be taken in this regard will be made known in due course.
Shivaprakash, Sarva Shikshana scheme district officer, said that the problem of operating computers under the scheme in various schools has arisen because of inefficiency of Wipro company. He was replying to the issue, which was raised by Asha Timmappa.
The CEO promised to introduce National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme at all the gram panchayats in the district within a month.
Santosh Kumar objected to the acquisition of 66 feet of land for laying the gas pipeline proposed to be laid between Kochi and Bangalore, pointing out that the gas line will require only a few feet of land, and not more. Keshava Gowda complained that the road works have become substandard because of the poor quality of bitumen being supplied by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. The issue of non-payment of contractors’ bills also came up for discussion.
The session also decided to move the Supreme Court, with an appeal to cancel the bail granted to Integrated Tribal Development Project coordinator, S R Patalappa, by the state High Court. Patalappa has allegedly defrauded the government and the beneficiaries to the tune of about Rs 70 lac through misuse of funds.
The panchayat session had a unique feature, in the form of on the spot reply provided to most of the issues by the new CEO, Vijay Prakash.