Agriculture, drinking water, health-related issues dominate quarterly KDP meeting

Issues related to agriculture, drinking water and health dominated the quarterly Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) meeting in Yadgir on Monday. The meeting was chaired by Small Scale Industries and Public Enterprises and district in-charge Minister Sharabasappa Darshanapur.

Issues related to agriculture, drinking water and health dominated the quarterly Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) meeting in Yadgir on Monday. The meeting was chaired by Small Scale Industries and Public Enterprises and district in-charge Minister Sharabasappa Darshanapur.

The Minister called out officials for their inaction in preventing the selling of substandard sowing cotton seeds and not releasing compensation to families of farmers who had died by suicide owing to debt. “Why did you fail to curb the selling of substandard sowing seeds? What action have you taken so far against traders who are involved in such activities? How many raids have you conducted? More importantly, the delay in releasing compensation to the families of farmers who died by suicide was raised by those families. We are receiving many complaints on this. What prevented you from doing so? If you remain inactive, it will damage the image of government,” Mr. Darshanapur told Abid, Joint Director of Agriculture Department.

Meanwhile, Sharanagowda Kandkur, MLA, questioned Mr. Abid saying that the police from Telangana State were arresting people in Gurmitkal taluk’s bordering village for allegedly selling substandard seeds. “Why was the same action not taken by you, he asked.

Replying to the Minister, Mr. Abid said that 44 farmers died by suicide during 2022-23 and compensation to the families of 42 had been distributed after they were decided eligible. Two cases were rejected as they were ineligible.

The Minister asked for the reasons for the rejection and questioned why he was not informed earlier? In many cases, the compensation is released months after the incident. Mr. Abid replied that the delay was owing to delayed reports by FSL. The Minister told him to approach the concerned officer and get the reports immediately and release the compensation to those families.

Mr. Darshanapur and Mr. Kandkur and also Channareddy Patil Tunnur and Raja Venkatappa Naik, MLA of Yadgir and Shorapur, raised the issue of drinking water shortage. All MLAs including the Minister asked the officials of Karnataka Urban Drinking Water Supply and Rural Drinking Water Supply departments about the functioning of reserve osmosis plants (ROP’s). Informing the house, officials said that of the total 415 ROP’s in the district, 211 were working and the remaining are under repair. Mr. Darshanapur urged them to take up immediate repair works of defunct ROP’s and hand them over to concerned Gram Panchayats for maintenance as they are collecting money on selling water.

Officers further said that there was no severe drinking water problem in Shorapur, Hunsagi and Yadgir. In Yadgir, drinking water was supplied once every alternate day from the Bhima. But, there was a problem in Gurmitkal taluk headquarters and village.