Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Dec 30: State rural development and panchayat raj minister, Jagadish Shettar, appreciated Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts for their performances under collection of taxes and utilizing the grants released for rural development. However, he noted that complaints have often arisen about defective methods of choosing the beneficiaries under different schemes. He asked the panchayats to hold Gram Sabhas in an organized way, and ensure that all the beneficiaries are chosen there. He was speaking after visiting Mennabettu gram panchayat near Kinnigoli in the district on Thursday December 29.
“Although the legislators have been seeking the right to choose the beneficiaries, we have not acceded to their demand so far. The government wants the beneficiaries to be identified at the Gram Sabhas. If the benefits of government schemes do not reach the poor people for whom they are meant, the schemes go waste,” he observed. He also exhorted the lower level government employees and people’s representatives to function honestly.
Informing that the grants flowing to the gram panchayats will be remarkably more in the coming years based on population of the villages as per the recommendations of the Thirteenth Finance Commission, he urged the concerned to make best use of the additional grants. He said that he has been trying to implement more and more drinking water projects in the coastal districts by using the river water. The minister asked the gram panchayats to spend grants under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, under which Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts have been lagging behind.
MLA, Abhay Chandra Jain, speaking on the occasion, asked the minister to pay more attention to multiple-village drinking water projects and road development. Zilla panchayat president, K T Shylaja Bhat, requested the minister to help Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat to implement the Vision-2020 time table prepared and submitted by the ZP to the government.
ZP chief executive officer, K N Vijay Prakash, ZP vice president, Bhavya, Mennabettu gram panchayat president, Shaila Shetty, and various others leaders were present.