Delay in work: Council oppn leader warns of protest

The Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, Kota Srinivas Poojary, warned of staging a protest inside and outside the council, against the inordinate delay in the relief works for the rehabilitation of natural calamity victims in Kodagu district.

Briefing reporters on Wednesday, he said, “The state government is showing a negligent attitude in the rebuilding of Kodagu. The government has come forward to construct only 840 houses, in spite of 3,849 houses getting damaged in the natural calamity. Where should the rest of the victims go?”

Poojary said, “Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara had promised to construct houses in a month while former housing minister U T Khader had promised to construct 50 houses in a month. Unfortunately, the work on 10 houses is not completed so far. The work on the foundation and other works are in progress. By looking at the progress of the houses, one will wonder whether the houses will be completed by May-end.”

If the houses are not completed by the monsoon, then we will stage a huge protest, he said.

“The Infosys Foundation and Seva Bharathi had decided to construct houses for the victims. However, by not handing over the land, the state government has kept the donors at bay,” he alleged.

According to information availed from the chief minister’s office, 34,000 people have contributed 131 crore to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. The government employees have given Rs 100 crore. A total of 231 crore has been collected by the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, said Kota Poojary.

He said over 35,000 farmers have incurred losses in the heavy rain and landslides. The compensation has been disbursed to only 1,277 farmers. The remaining farmers have failed to get any compensation so far.

The Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Kota Srinivas Poojary said the district had received a huge quantity of materials from all quarters during the flood. There was no space in Madikeri to store the materials. It is a tragedy that the Relief Fund has been misused in the name of the purchase of clothes and bed sheets.

Not even one meeting of the Kodagu Reconstruction Authority has been convened so far. Special Deputy Commissioner Jagadish was transferred and no officer has replaced him, said Poojary.

MLC Tejaswini Gowda said, “The government is constructing houses at a cost of Rs 10 lakh. However, the plinth area of the house is small. Quality houses should be constructed.”

The district contractors had taken up several works during the landslides and flood in the district. However, contract for the development works has been entrusted to contractors from K R Nagara, he added.

MLA M P Appachu Ranjan demanded a probe into the utilisation of Rs 7.85 crore from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the purchase of clothes and bedsheets for the Kodagu natural calamity victims.

“The clothes and bedsheets donated by the public and various organisations are still lying in the godowns set up by the district administration. In spite of it, the purchase of clothes and bedsheets is seen. There is a need to conduct a probe into it.”