GULBARGA: Agricultural Marketing Minister Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, who is also district in-charge, has expressed unhappiness over the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in the district and the "failure" of officials to utilise the funds and provide employment to the needy.

He was chairing the quarter review meeting of the Karnataka Development Programmes (KDP) in the Zilla Panchayat meeting hall here on Wednesday.

Compared with the excellent progress made in utilising the funds available under the NREGS in Chitradurga and Davangere districts, the performance in Gulbarga district was a "failure," he said.

Deputy Commissioner Pankajkumar Pandey said that out of the Rs. 28.5 crore available under the NREGS in Gulbarga district, Rs. 8.2 crore had been spent so far. Of this, Rs. 5 crore had been spent on wages.

To a question from the Minister, the official said that the administration was successful in creating 7.18 lakh man days with the help of the funds available under the programme.

Surpur MLA Rajugowda said that the senior officials of the district administration had to be blamed for "non-utilisation" of the funds available under the programme. The implementing officers at the taluk and gram panchayats were reluctant to take up works under the scheme fearing action against them by the zilla panchayat for violating the norms stipulated in the programme.

In Surpur taluk, more than 26,000 persons had been registered under the scheme and many works were initially taken up by the gram panchayat.

Show cause notices

But all these works had come to a halt after the zilla panchayat suspended the Waghangera Gram Panchayat secretary and an engineer who executed the works under the NREGS, and issued show cause notices to the Chief Executive Officer of Surpur Taluk Panchayat citing violation of norms. The Deputy Commissioner said that action was initiated against officials for violating the norms on spending the funds — 60 per cent on wages and the remaining on materials and machinery. In the case of Waghangera gram panchayat, the investigation revealed that the officials had used the entire amount on materials and machinery, he said

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