MANGALORE: All projects relating to power, sanitation and drinking water should be completed by the end of March 2007, Minister for Fisheries, Endowment, Horticulture and district in-charge B. Nagaraj Shetty has said. Setting this deadline at a quarterly review meeting of Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) here recently, he said the Government would not tolerate any laxity.

Mr. Shetty, who presided over the meeting, said Bharat Lal Meena, Managing Director of electricity supply companies in the State, had promised that he would ensure that various pending projects, including setting up of sub-stations, would be completed by end of this year. "However, I have given him three more months to complete all tasks, including setting up three sub-stations," he said.

Stating that the Deputy Commissioner had agreed to allot land at Kadri to Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (MESCOM) for one such sub-station, Mr. Shetty said he was touch with the Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar to secure clearance for land for the sub-station at Nandigudda. He asked MESCOM officials to sort out issues about land for the Alake sub-station with MLA N. Yogish Bhat.

Instructing the Chief Executive Officer of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat A.M. Kunjappa to ensure effective implementation of the Total Sanitation Campaign, Mr. Shetty directed the executive officers of the taluk panchayats to see that all families irrespective of their economic status had toilets in their homes. The practice of open defecation should be stopped, he said.

Taking cognisance of a complaint from Sundar Salian, Chairman, Standing Committee on Agriculture and Industries, about the laxity in progress in hamlet electrification scheme, Mr. Shetty instructed officials to complete it in the next two months. An official of MESCOM said proposals under the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Programmes had been sent to the authorities concerned.

To a suggestion from Mr. Bhat, he agreed to convene a meeting of all concerned to chalk out modalities for raising Rs. 10 crore needed for the construction of a vented dam across the Netravathi at Thumbe. Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediurappa had agreed to allocate Rs. 30 crore needed for the project if the Mangalore City Corporation raised Rs. 10 crores, he recalled.

Mr. Shetty expressed concern over the progress of the Rs. 306-crore Karnataka Urban Development and Coastal Environmental Management Project (KUDCEMP). Pasha, Executive Engineer, said Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation, which was implementing the project, had said that 70 per cent of works relating to water supply project had been completed and the KUDCEMP would be completed by 2008.

Stating that MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party had in a recent meeting in Bangalore expressed apprehensions over the quality of works being implemented under the Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Scheme in the district, Mr. Shetty said the Government would order an inquiry into it. He instructed the officials concerned to be prepared for a probe in this connection.

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