Karnataka - Hassan   

Deve Gowda chairs review meeting

H.D. Deve Gowda

HASSAN: Officials and elected representatives who attended the Vigilance and Monitoring Committee review meeting presided over by the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda here on Thursday were in for many surprises.

Mr. Gowda seemed to be in a happy mood, perhaps because his party, the Janata Dal (Secular), won three of the eight Assembly seats in the recent byelections.

This was his second review meeting (in five years), and perhaps the last as elections to the Lok Sabha are due early next year. Mr. Gowda is MP for Hassan district.

He apologised for not conducting meetings regularly. Meetings of the committee discuss the utilisation of Central funds as well as those released under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS). This, he attributed to his “ill-health and other preoccupations”. When some legislators tried to blame officials for the delay in execution of projects, Mr. Gowda told them not to embarrass the officials as they too were working under pressure.

When his attention was drawn to the fact that an executive engineer was unable to utilise funds granted under the MPLAD Scheme for roadworks, Mr. Gowda asked the officer to explain his position or else “journalists will become critical”. Mr. Gowda said that although banks had announced that the issue of loans to the poor for house construction had been liberalised, the poor were being given only Rs. 50,000. “How is it possible for one to construct a house with such a small amount of money,” he asked.

He expressed surprise over the poor implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the district and said he would speak to the Prime Minister seeking changes in the rules governing the scheme.

Mr. Gowda advised officials not to withhold applications for sanction of old age pension and widow pension.

At a press conference later, Mr. Gowda refused to comment on the Dandavati Irrigation Project proposed to be started in Shimoga district. He only said the Chief Minister was in favour of the project, while the MP for the district, S. Bangarappa, was against it.

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

Stories in this Section

Deve Gowda chairs review meeting
Accused throws footwear at judge
Videoconferencing now in Hassan district court

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu