Revenue Minister R V Deshpande takes CMC officials to task for Negligence in water supply
Udupi: Irked over not distributing water to the public of Udupi City Municipal Council, Revenue Minister R V Deshpande on June 18, took the Commissioner of Udupi CMC to the task and instructed the Deputy Commissioner to issue a Show cause notice to him.
At the review meeting on Tuesday, the minister slammed the officials over the piling up of files under Sakala and irregularity in seeing the government benefits reach the people.
During the meeting, Udupi MLA Raghupathi Bhat alleged and said, “Udupi city for the first time this year faced severe water scarcity during the last two months. The City Municipal Council failed to provide water through tankers. I have supplied water to the public through tankers from my own money. The city municipality totally failed in tackling water scarcity”.
Deshpande reacting to CMC commissioner Anand Kallolikar’s negligence in responding for the problem instructed the deputy commissioner to issue a show cause notice against him.
“There is enough stock of fodder for animals, and the agriculture department has provided enough seeds and fertilizers. To address the drinking water issue, we have also waived off the Central government restriction on water tankers in the state. As the figures given by the officials on the recovery of government land was not convincing, we have decided to support the DCs to work towards it,” said Deshpande.
The minister ordered the DC, AC and tahsildars to hold a special initiative from June 21-30 and dispose of all the pending files on the basis of merit. “On a priority basis, they have to clear all the cases or the officials concerned will be penalized,” Deshpande warned.
Rural areas and urban pockets should be cleaned to ensure the free flow of water in case of heavy rain. There should not be any complaints from the public or reports in the media on rainwater gushing into houses or getting accumulated on roads. Cleaning of drains should be taken up on a war-footing and cleanliness drives should be held in gram panchayats of the district, the minister said.
Simplifying the approval for conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural use, the State government has launched an affidavit-based online land conversion system. This is a hassle-free and transparent system that will significantly cut delays in the land-conversion process, Deshpande said.
Under the online system, applicants need to submit the latest record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops (RTC), a copy of the mutation record, an 11E sketch (only if there are multiple landowners) and an affidavit on a Rs 200 stamp paper.
Pointing out that converting agricultural land for the non-agricultural purpose had several problems and lacked transparency, the Minister said that the process took anywhere between six months to one year. Applicants had to submit 20 to 25 documents from various departments and agencies.
MLA Raghupathi Bhat drew his attention to the Forest Department refusing permission to fell acacia trees at Uppoor for a housing scheme.
The minister said that the Forest Department has no right to grow trees on land belonging to the Revenue Department.
He also told forest officials at a meeting convened in the DC’s office, “Even if the department had grown trees on prior approval, it should permit felling of trees on revenue land for development programmes.”
Deshpande said the department should give approval to chop a tree on land owned by the panchayats. The department is also entitled to refund money to the urban body after deducting the expenses incurred in the auctioning timber. He advised forest officials not only to prevent encroaching of forest and illegal felling of trees but also stop harassing public by declaring trees in the revenue land as forest land.
Kota Srinivas Poojary leader of the Opposition in the council, Ivan D’Souza parliamentary secretary for Revenue minister, Hephsiba Rani Korlapati deputy commissioner, Dinakar Babu president Zilla Panchayat, Nisha James SP Udupi, Sheela K Shetty vice president Zilla Panchayat and others were present.
