Mysuru: Officials of certain departments were seen sweating in ideal room temperature condition when the state chief minister took them to task during Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) quarterly review meeting held at Regional Commissioner’s office on January 25.
“What action do you expect me to take?”, asked CM Siddaramaiah and followed it with the next tough question, ”Shall I suspend you?” He was looking into several complaints of inadequate water supply in Nanajangud Assembly constituency. He ridiculed the officials for not seeing common people’s woes while travelling in air conditioned cars by raising the tinted glasses of their vehicles.
“Do you have any self-esteem? Were you not taught basics in engineering college?, CM went on with a flurry of questions after getting annoyed with the response from departmental officials/engineers.
It may be recalled that District In-charge minister H C Mahadevappa had asked all the officials during the preparatory meeting few days ago to come prepared with facts and figures for the review. However, officials ran out of ideas and were seen profusely sweating while answering a volley of questions from the chief minister.
“The Government has decided to supply fodder at a reduced price of Rs 1.50 per kg instead of Rs 3 in drought prone areas though the procurement price is Rs 6. I have instructed police officials to stop the shipment of fodder outside state. Farmers must be encouraged to grow fodder and officials should keep tab on availability of fodder at each Gram Panchayat”, CM advised.
He asked officials to prepare a master plan to sustain in the crisis situation till May end in Mysuru region. He asked the officials to give utmost priority to providing drinking water in the affected areas. The onus of providing drinking water lies on the Deputy Commissioners and CEO’s, who should take measures to ensure proper supply of drinking water by taking timely actions, CM added.
District In-charge Minister H C Mahadevappa, Member of Parliament from Chamarajanagar Dhruvanaryana, MLA’s Vasu and G T Devgowda were present at the meeting.
