Karnataka   

Complaints against official to be probed

DAVANGERE: President of the Davangere Zilla Panchayat Y. Ramappa has criticised the Manager of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation, Harsha Goankar, for allegedly harassing poor people who come to his office seeking benefits under various schemes. He also charged Mr. Goankar with indulging in corruption.

At the Karnataka Development Programme review meeting held here on Monday, Mr. Ramappa alleged that fake bills were being prepared without drilling borewells and crores of rupees had been misappropriated. He said that he had received complaints from a few women that they were threatened and pushed out of the office by Mr. Goankar when they refused to pay bribes to utilise benefits offered by various schemes.

Mr. Ramappa said he had sent a team of officials to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation office to ascertain whether funds had been misappropriated or not. He said he had also procured certain files indicating how the official had misappropriated huge sums of money.

Chief executive officer of the zilla panchayat Nijalingappa said he too had visited the office and had come across many lapses in maintenance of records. He said prima facie evidence showed that Mr. Goankar had not followed any procedure while selecting beneficiaries and releasing money to them. He further said that he had received a number of complaints that the officer had demanded money from people seeking benefits under different schemes.

Vice-president of the zilla panchayat Manjappa also had similar complaints against Mr. Goankar. Mr. Ramappa asked Mr. Nijalingappa to conduct an inquiry into the issue and submit a report.

Joint Director of Agriculture Shivamurthappa said there was a temporary scarcity of chemical fertilizer in Davangere district and claimed that 2,000 tonnes of chemical fertilizer had arrived on Monday. This would help solve the problem in the district.

Mr. Nijalingappa asked Mr. Shivamurthappa to cancel the licences of shops selling fertilizer in the black market.

Mr. Ramappa criticised executive officer Honnali Jayaprakash for selecting beneficiaries for Ashraya houses at the behest of the former MLA Renukacharya and directed Mr. Nijalingappa to approve the list of beneficiaries selected by gram panchayats only.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Police get portrait prepared to confirm Abu Hamza’s identity
France will come to Manipal
Work on power plants under way
‘No dearth of funds for rail projects’
Preparations on for ‘Kadambotsav’
Complaints against official to be probed
Festival of Jammu and Kashmir begins
‘MPT will take people into confidence over its projects’
UDF to organise meeting at Palakkunnu
Violence continues at Uduma
Acid attack accused sentenced
Lalu Prasad urged to upgrade railway station
Cultural fete
Advocate moves Court to retain HAL Airport
Children’s film fest
Tension prevails on border with T.N.
‘Krishna’: State Government to order inquiry into lapses
Two bank staff drown
Assembly polls: BJP plans protest
Visit
Eye camp
Water adalat
Extended service

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu