Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, May 19: State rural development and panchayat raj minister, Jagadish Shettar, said that the government is planning to draw help from Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in its endeavour to find out water sources to solve drinking water woes. He was speaking after presiding over the progress review meeting of the rural development and panchayat raj department held in the auditorium of the zilla panchayat here on Tuesday May 18.
Shettar said that he plans to create a separate department of engineers to find out water sources and use them to the optimum level, and that he has already held discussions on this subject with the Chief Minister a number of times. He felt that the result got from the bore wells being dug under a scheme with central-state participation, has not been satisfactory.
Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat president, Santosh Kumar Bhandary, suggested for erecting check dams across the rivers of the district at several places, to augment the water sources. Zilla panchayat chief executive officer, P Shivahsnkar, said that the district needs about Rs 54 crore for taking up the work of enrichment of water sources through V-Wire Technology, saying that the experiments undertaken for augmenting water table through this technology in dried up bore wells of Munnoor and Kolnad gram panchayats in the district have given encouraging results.
MLAs, Ramanath Rai and U T Khader, district in – charge minister, Krishna J Palemar, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, zilla panchayat vice president, Jagannath Salian and several others were present.
Addressing a press conference later, Shettar said that the government will soon appoint ombudsmen to investigate complaints of irregularities in the works being executed in the districts, and to ensure quality in such works. He said that under the scheme, retired judges, who would be appointed as ombudsmen in each district, will be given powers to hold inquiries and punish the guilty, in cases of complaints of irregularities in the execution of various works. He also said that the government has plans to film the progress of government works through the satellite, to put a stop to the practice of drawing bills without executing works.