The Hindu

Mangalore, June 26: The Divisional Development Commissioner G.M. Dhananjaya today directed the officials to hold “Grama Vastavya” (village stays) at all the 203 villages of Dakshina Kannada district before March 8, 2008. A review of every village would be done at various points of time during the year, he said.

Speaking at a review meeting here on Monday, Mr. Dhananjaya said every department should send officials on “Grama Vastavya” to deal with problems of the villages locally and provide spot-relief. Problems such as widow pension, medical treatment, school books and uniforms, scholarships, land rights and so on should be attended to instantly. . He appealed to the officials working under urban elected self-governments to club five wards of their respective areas and conduct one meeting regularly and address the grievances of the people.

Mr. Dhananjaya asked the officials concerned to repair National Highway on the Shirady Ghat section immediately. When the officials said there was no funds for the repair work, Mr. Dhananjaya directed them to send fund utilization certificate to the Government which would enable them to seek fresh funds. The Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada M. Maheshwara Rao said five persons had died and one person was injured since April due to natural disaster. A total of 336 houses had been damaged of which 38 had collapsed and 298 partially damaged.

The Public Works Department had suffered a loss of Rs. 265 lakh, Mangalore City Corportiaon Rs. 200 lakh, National Highways Rs. 25 lakh, zilla panchayat Rs. 530 lakh and Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Rs. 45 lakh due to various natural causes such as rain, landslide, wind and lightening. The loss is estimated at Rs. 12.6 crore.