The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Khammam News : Row over selection of beneficiaries

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 20, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Khammam

Row over selection of beneficiaries

By Our Staff Reporter

KHAMMAM, DEC. 19. The Zilla Parishad general body, which met here today, witnessed noisy scenes as the ZPTC members of almost all the parties protested against the way the beneficiaries of various Government-sponsored schemes were being selected by the officials by keeping the elected representatives in the dark.

They resented that they were deprived of their say in the implementation of the developmental programmes. Some women members complained that they were not certain of getting a seat in the meeting hall as it was being occupied by many outsiders even on the meeting day.

Decision questioned

The members questioned the way the beneficiaries were selected for the implementation of the Indira Prabha programme. About 4,000 acres of land was identified for development in 17 mandals with an outlay of Rs 8 crores as part of the RIDF phase - 9. The members who included some MLAs pointed out that they were not informed either about the selection of the beneficiaries or the identification of land. The officials told the members that the land was identified from the pockets, which witnessed a drastic fall in the groundwater table.

They said that another 8,300 acres of land would be developed in RIDF phase 10 benefiting 4,052 families with an outlay of 19 crores. The members, however, insisted on a fresh review of the beneficiaries' selection. The ZP Chairman, Chanda Lingaiah, assured the ZPTCs that the matter would be looked into by panels constituted with the ZPTC members and the MLAs concerned.

Some members questioned the disconnection of electricity services and vigilance raids on the tribal villages.

Power cut

The Transco superintending engineer, Gopal, said power supply was stopped to some villages as the people stopped payment of the bills. He made it clear that no direction was received from the Government to provide free power for domestic use. It was only in the agriculture services that the old dues to the tune of Rs 13.51 crores were waived.

He said that the power supply would be restored to the villages if the residents were ready to make part payment. They would be given time to pay the dues in instalments. Electrification of ten villages was proposed under the rural electrification programme and the works would be grounded once the Government approved the proposals. The electrification programme would cost Rs 35 lakhs. In all, 50 tribal habitations were electrified at a cost Rs 1.17 crores.

Members sought at least ten borewells for each mandal to meet the water scarcity in the villages. The RWS officials assured them of at least five borewells per ZPTC. About 150 borewells were already sanctioned by the Government.

Payment for borewells

The RWS officials informed that about 90 borewells were sunk at different places in the district in the previous TDP regime sans any sanction or approval of estimates. The agencies, which dug the borewells, were approaching the department for payments.

The ZP Chairman wondered as to how the department would be responsible for payment for borewells.

Gummadi Narsaiah, Yellandu MLA, Katta Venkata Narsaiah, Madhira MLA, Payam Venkateswarlu, MLA of Burgumpadu, and the ZP chief executive, Surya Prakash Rao, were among those who attended.

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