BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is on a yatra showcasing the achievements of his government, has now dug into unused Local Area Development(LAD) funds of the legislators to take up construction of schools.
The CM has drawn up a new programme ‘Sidda Sarkarada Nade Sevegala Kade’ (march of the government towards citizen services).The programme envisages to take up works like building of classrooms, anganwadi centres and improving health services by utilising `406 crore in the accounts of Deputy Commissioners of the districts which have remained unspent for over a decade. With Assembly elections fast approaching, the Deputy
Commissioners will be asked to utilise the funds fully before March 2018.Minister for Planning and Statistics M R Seetharam announced the programme here on Thursday and said the funds had remained dormant under the Karnataka legislators’ Local Area Development Scheme from 2002 to 2013.
The funds will be distributed among the departments of education, health and the women and child development for specific projects. This is the first time such a large amount of unused LAD funds had been unearthed. The then legislators no longer have control over these funds as their terms have ended, the minister said.
The Education Department has got the lion’s share with `243 crore for construction or repair of 2719 classrooms in government schools.The Health Department has received `122 crore to provide basic infrastructure in 309 government hospitals. The Women and Child Development Department has received `40 crore to construct 346 anganwadis.