Karnataka - Shimoga   

Eshwarappa wants district in-charge Minister replaced

Special Correspondent

Says Minister failed to review flood situation and sanction funds for relief

SHIMOGA: K.S. Eshwarappa, Shimoga MLA and chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, presided over a meeting of the committee here on Tuesday and reviewed the work of various departments.

Members Shivanand Nayak, J.C. Madhuswamy, C.M. Udasi, Deputy Secretary of the Legislative Assembly Secretariat A. Mallikarjunaiah, Additional Secretary for Housing S.G. Hegde, Commissioner of the Slum Clearance Board Shivashankar, and Deputy Commissioner T.K. Anilkumar participated in the meeting.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Eshwarappa said Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh should relieve Minister for Housing Anjana Murthy as the district in-charge, as the Minister had failed to take charge of the situation when the district was flooded and rains caused excessive damage to property.

The MLA said thought the Government had released Rs. 17.14 crores as relief to the district, the money could not be utilised as the Minister failed to review the situation and sanction the money. "Since the money was not sanctioned, relief works could not be taken up," he said.

Mr. Eshwarappa said that the Centre could have extended more assistance had Mr. Murthy held the review meeting on time and forwarded the utilisation certificate after spending the funds on relief works.

He pointed out that president of the District Congress Committee and MLC Mir Azeez Ahmed and the former Shimoga MP Ayanur Manjunath have also been critical of Mr. Murthy. He alleged that the Minister is not concerned about solving the problems plaguing the district. The MLA said he will seek the permission of the Speaker of the Assembly to move a privilege motion against Mr. Murthy. He also said that protocol demanded that the local MLA should be associated with all government programmes.

He said the Minister had distributed title deeds to the beneficiaries of a slum in Shimoga at a function organised by the Government in which he (Mr. Eshwarappa) was not involved. He said that he has written to Mr. Dharam Singh in this regard.

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