STPs mandatory for apartments in rural areas

Sewage treatment plants (STPs) will be made mandatory for all apartments that come up in rural areas across Dakshina Kannada district, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr R Selvamani said on Tuesday.

The apartment owners will receive licence only after the completion of STPs.

An order in this regard was sent to all the 230 gram panchayats in the district, he said while addressing members at the DK Zilla Panchayat meeting held at ZP Nethravathi hall on Tuesday.

ZP member Mamatha Gatti said there was no drainage facilities in rural areas. The apartments had not constructed proper channels to drain the waste water.

No committees

Member Koragappa Naik alleged that water and sanitation committees had not been set up at village level, despite officials from Swacch Bharath Mission claiming that committees had been constituted.

Gram Panchayats had no knowledge about the guidelines to set up water and sanitation committees.

Swachh Mission

Member Janardhan Gowda claimed that despite spending lakhs of rupees on creating awareness on Swachh Bharath Mission through different modes, the end result had not been satisfying. There is a need to implement programmes effectively in the district, he added.

ZP chief executive officer said nodal officers were appointed in all the 36 zilla panchayat constituencies in the district, who in turn will initiate measures to implement cleanliness and sanitation related works.

The solid waste management units in Kurnadu and Gurpura will be shifted to KIADB land.

Shuddha drinking water

‘Shuddha drinking water’ units in Dakshina Kannada district installed by Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KRIDL) and Rural Water Supply department will be made functional by December end.

Dr Selvamani said that Project Director Madhu Kumar would be the nodal officer who will look into the repair of the drinking water units and would fix a schedule for the repair of units in the district. Out of 125 units, the KRIDL had handed over 14 units to the gram panchayats after the repair.

The rural water supply department has repaired 10 out of 23 units in the district.

RTCs for schools

As many as 85 schools in the district do not have RTCs in their names.

DDPI Walter D’Mellow said those who had donated land for the schools through Daana Patra in the past had to pay Rs 40,000 for registration of the land in the name of the school, which is posing a hurdle. Owing to the issues related to Kumki land, Deemed forest and Daana Patra, 85 schools are yet to receive RTCs.

Selvamani said that the Zilla Panchayat would write to the government to waive the registration fee for those land donated for constructing schools by philanthropists in the past.