Silvester D’Souza

Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (MS)

Kundapur, Dec 6: One of the members of Kundapur taluk panchayat urged for a voice vote demanding that an inquiry by the Lokayukta with regards to the encroachment of panchayat land by the hotel which is operating in the premises of panchayat and also the unscientific rent that is being collected from it. Another demand was for calling a fresh tender for all the commercial complexes that are owned by the taluk panchayat. These issues were discussed in the 11th general meeting of Kundapur taluk panchayat.

The meeting was chaired by Jayashree Mogaveera, president of the taluk panchayat. Mahendra Poojary, member of the panchayat said, "The hotel, which is operating on the land that is owned by the panchayat has encroached 2,562 square feet of land. Rs 4 lac is spent on the work that has taken place. Only Rs 1,000 additional rent is added to the existing rent collected from this hotel. Kundapur taluk panchayat is incurring a loss of Rs 10 lac due to this.

"Thorough inquiry needs to be conducted in this regard. Lokayukta inquiry needs to be carried out against the representatives and officials who have worked against the interest of the taluk panchayat. This is not a trivial issue. The earlier decision should be cancelled and a new decision has to be taken. Action should be taken against the people who have participated in this scam,” he said.

Jyothi Puthran, member of panchayat spoke in support of Mahendra Poojary and said, "I approve what Mahendra Poojary has said. This is a high-level scam. This is not added to the proceedings also. Adherence report of the previous administrative committee is also not provided. An inquiry needs to be conducted in this regard."

"An inquiry needs to be conducted with regards to the tender process of all the commercial complexes that fall under the control of taluk panchayat. A stay has to be put on the tenders that have been already called and retendering process as per the law needs to be held. In addition retendering has to be done for all the rented buildings belonging to the taluk panchayat," said Pushparaj Shetty. When Mahendra Poojary tried to strongly justify his stand on this issue, Pushparaj Shetty did not budge from his opinion.

Raju Devadiga said, "Inspection bungalow at Trasi is in total turmoil. What is the rent that they still owe to the panchayat? Officials of the taluk panchayat have to look into this matter."

Umesh Shetty directly accused the president and vice-president of the taluk panchayat, for the land encroachment issue of the hotel. To this, Praveen Kumar, vice-president of the panchayat angrily retorted by saying, "Do not make baseless allegations. We have given the hotel on rent according to the law." Lots of accusations and counter-accusations were made in this regard. At last, it was decided to hand over the land encroachment matter of the hotel to the Lokayukta. A separate decision was taken of conducting an inquiry into the rent and tendering process of all the commercial complexes owned by the taluk panchayat.

Sorry state of government hospital

Accusations were raised that the doctors at Kundapur government hospital are not responding to the patients in a proper manner. Some members also raised the issue of unnecessary harassment to a pregnant lady which took place recently. Vasudeva Pai spoke in support of this issue and said, "Poor people visit the government hospitals. Rich go to private ones. If poor patients do not get a proper response then the same is not correct." Umesh Shetty said, "It has become very difficult for the poor patients to visit government hospital. Medical officers have to clarify the process of shifting a patient to the ward after the surgery." Medical officer of the hospital, Dr Robert Rebello gave information about the functioning of the hospital.”

Why is agreement of Kumki holders required?

Objections were raised to an answer in relation to Vandse revenue division, in which the concerned officer clarified that if the area requested for sanction, under 49C, is within the Kumki limits, village accountants have been asked to get the agreement from the kumki landholders during the preparation of files at the village level.

Continuous absence of mining officer

Members of the panchayat raised the issue of non-attendance of the mining officers since the first general meeting. They also questioned that is it not a violation of the law if the officer does not care to attend the meeting even after serving notice under act 142 of Panchayat Raj.

Members also urged action against a certain bar owner who has encroached the government land and constructed an RCC building in Amasebailu gram panchayat limits. The issue regarding one particular person holding three different positions of gram panchayat representative, cook for Akshara Dasoha and activist for Asha project was discussed. Due to this, the person is not able to justify her duties in all the positions as per the comment made by one of the members.

Praveen Kumar, vice-president, taluk panchayat, K R Pegnekar, chief operating officer and G M Borkar, tahsildar were present.