The Zilla Panchayat suspended eleven Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) and Grama Panchayat secretaries for their alleged apathy in solving drinking water problem.
Though drinking water crisis is a common affair every year during summer, the problem was aggravated due to lack of adequate rain in the last two years. It may be noted that the entire machinery of the district administration was busy in the ULB elections and the Assembly elections during the onset and preliminary months of summer this year. This added to the problem resulting in most of the villages including urban areas, reeling under acute drinking water shortage.
The elected representatives and public urged the administration to attend to the problem immediately after the elections. Deputy commissioner S N Nagaraj, who personally visited the taluks, found that the water problem was grave in many villages. He convened series of meetings with officials and instructed them to attend to to the problem. He was shocked to see that the villages were more affected and hence took the Zilla Panchayat officials, including the CEO to task.
After facing the ire of the Deputy Commissioner, ZP CEO Gnanaprakash discussed the measures taken to solve the water problem with his subordinate officials. He found that some PDOs and GP secretaries neglected the instructions of higher-ups in dealing with the water problem. The list of suspended PDOs and secretaries is as follows: Devadurga taluk Mundargi Grama Panchayat PDO Sharanappa, Sindhanur taluk Gonawar GP secretary Narayan Purohit, Boothaldinni GP PDO Narasimharao, Manvi taluk Ballatagi GP PDO Shivappa Subedar, Sunkeshwar GP PDO Ganesh, Janekal GP secretary Shekshavali, Atnur GP secretary Rajasab, Raichur taluk Yergera GP incharge PDO and Singanodi GP secretary Narasamma, Jagir Venkatapur GP secretary Mahadevappa, Gillesugur GP PDO Rekha, Lingsugur taluk Mattur GP secretary Patteppa Rathod.