Belgaum: Did the office of the Deputy Commissioner "insult" the zilla panchayat president and the members by keeping them away from two important meetings on Gadinaadu Utsav and the proposal to hold a legislature session?

The answer to the question came in the form of a clarification from zilla panchayat Chief Executive Officer M.E. Shivalingamurthy, who pointed a finger at the Deputy Commissioner.

Without directly naming the office or the official concerned, the members at the general body meeting of the zilla panchayat here on Friday, demanded that the Chair summon the official responsible for "insulting" the president. They alleged that the official had neither invited either the zilla panchayat president nor the vice-president to the important meetings preceding the Gadinaadu Utsav-2006 held in May and the one with the four-member team from Bangalore, which was here to look into the feasibility of holding a session of the legislature earlier this week.

By not inviting the zilla panchayat president, the official had insulted not only the former but entire House and the official should tender an apology, the members demanded. They insisted that the Chair take up normal business only after eliciting an apology.

Zilla panchayat president Fakeerappa D. Gorbal, who was unable to respond immediately, consulted Mr. Shivalingamurthy on how to pacify the members. Subsequently, the CEO clarified that the Deputy Commissioner had asked to arrange the meeting with the team from Bangalore at the zilla panchayat meeting hall as there was no space in the Deputy Commissioner's office to accommodate a large number of officials, elected representative and members from various social organisations. Also, he was away attending some other official work that day. He promised that he would take proper care in future. With that clarification, the members took their seats.

Two Marathi speaking members demanded the Chair to provide circulars and information about the proceedings in Marathi as per a court order.

Former Minister Prakash B. Hukkeri, MLA, who construed their demand as a move to rake up linguistic dispute, advised Arjun Goral and Vinayak Hongekar against pursing a linguistic dispute and concentrate on development issues.

Mr. Hongekar said they were not raking up a controversy on the language but were urging the chair to issue circulars and other matters in Marathi language as per a court order. On the advice of Mr. Hukkeri, the chair assured the Marathi-speaking members of meeting them in his chamber and redress their grievance.

Later, a presentation was made on the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and its implementation.

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