Tahsildar’s truant at M’luru TP meet condemned

Tahsildar’s truant at M’luru TP meet condemned

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Feb 9,2017: It is reported that the Taluk Panchayat president Mohammed Monu and other members condemned the absence of Mangaluru tahsildar during the Taluk Panchayat meet held on Feb 8,  Wednesday.

"Although the officials, including Mangaluru Tahsildar Mahadevaiah, have been intimated about the date of the meeting well in advance, they have remained absent by quoting the reason of being on leave. When contacted on the day of the meeting, the tahsildar had switched off his phone. The gestures of the officials show that they are not serious about Taluk Panchayat meeting," said the president.

Taluk Panchayat member Vajrakshi P Shetty said that the meeting scheduled on January 19 was postponed due to lack of quorum. Officers were absent on that day too. She urged the Taluk Panchayat president to serve notices to officers who absented themselves from meetings. "Officers are answerable to elected representatives. Most of the problems raised by the members pertain to Mangaluru taluk, of which, the tahsildar is the administrative head. There is no meaning in conducting the meeting without tahsildar," said Shetty.

Other members including the president supported the opinion that the tahsildar should respect elected representatives. "None of the three tahsildars from Mangaluru, Moodbidri and Mulki are present. At least one of them should have been present," the members said, adding, "Even the district administration thinks that the Taluk Panchayat is not important. The Taluk Panchayat president’s name was not mentioned in the invitation to the Republic Day celebrations."

Drinking water woes

Reference to the problem of shortage of drinking water echoed during the meeting. "Many villages in Mangaluru taluk are facing crisis. The grants released for the drinking water supply by the government has not reached gram panchayats. The bills of the water tankers last year have not been cleared yet," the members said.

The president directed the executive officer to take measures to clear the bills at the earliest. An official said that 19 clean drinking water units have been sanctioned for Mangaluru taluk.

Ration card problems :

"The website of the Department of Food and Civil supplies has become non-responsive. This has caused problems to the people who have applied for new ration cards. The Department is totally irresponsible and has not corrected the malfunction of the website," TP member Sridhar said.

The Food Department officer said that the people who want to apply for APL and BPL cards may apply fresh through ahara.kar.nic.in. The error has been rectified and the online application process has started last Friday.

Panchayat vice president Poornima Ganesh Poojary and Standing Committee president Reeta Cutinha were present.