GULBARGA: The former Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council and suspended Janata Dal (Secular) MLA B.R. Patil has accused the Government of not implementing the recommendations of the task force headed by MLAs at the taluk level in solving drinking water crisis in the district.

At a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Patil said that the task forces constituted after the Dharam Singh Government had come to power, were effective and their recommendations were implemented until the present Government assumed office.

Final authority

The present Government had announced that these task forces would be the final authority in selecting projects to tackle water crisis in the villages. But none of its recommendations had been implemented so far. Instead, an officials' committee at the taluk level had been given powers to select projects for tackling water shortage.

`Scrap task force'

Mr. Patil said that there was no meaning in continuing the task force and hence it should be immediately scrapped.

People were under the impression that all its recommendations were being implemented and the legislators were being blamed for drinking water shortage, he said.

MLAs did not have power to recommend a single project to tackle the crisis. In Gulbarga district, task forces in ten taluks had submitted a list of projects in all villages facing water crisis this year. The cost amounted to Rs. 15.9 crore — Rs. 13 crore for the rural areas and Rs. 2.9 crore for the urban areas, Mr. Patil said.

Rift in coalition

Until now, only Rs. 76 lakh had been released for tackling crisis in the urban and rural areas in Gulbarga district. This amount had been transferred to the taluk-level committees headed by officials, he said.

The growing rift between coalition partners had made the bureaucracy in the State most ineffective.

No official at the district or the State level was implementing the directions of the Government due to the uncertain political situation in the State, Mr. Patil added.

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