From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Dec 13: Strengthened by the thumping victory in 12 out of the 15 by-elections to the State Assembly constituencies of the disqualified Congress and JD(S) MLAs on the ruling BJP tickets and thereby securing a clear majority in the Karnataka Assembly, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has set out to streamline the administration to deliver on the promises made by the government to the people.

The Chief Minister, who convened a meeting of the top bureaucrats in the governments including secretaries of various departments and Chief Executive Officers of Zilla Panchayats in Vidhana Soudha on Friday, tasked the government officials to improve the governance and streamline administration.

The tardy progress in the rehabilitation and grant of relief as well as compensation to the people affected by the recent heavy floods and rain havoc in different parts of the State as well as speedy implementation of developmental works were the main issues that were discussed at the meeting.

Yediyurappa took note of the fact that majority of the affected people, who had lost their houses, had not come forward to rebuild the houses despite the release of Rs 1 lac as immediate relief.

He asked the secretaries and key officials, entrusted with the responsibility of the different districts to visit the affected districts and take immediate to steps to resolve the issues within a week. He also directed the officials to allot alternate sites to people unable to construct houses due to landslides and other reasons.

Crop Insurance Compensation to Farmers

The Chief Minister also directed the officials to implement alternative measures to help as many as 37,000 farmers unable to obtain the compensation for crop losses due to non-linkage of their Aadhaar cards within a week even though compensation had been distributed to 5.06 lac farmers to the tune of Rs 785.94 crore.

The Chief Minister directed the Chief Secretary to issue written instructions to the nationalized banks not to credit the input subsidy and crop loss compensation amounts paid to the accounts of the farmers towards their crop loans despite the clear directions against such measures at the State-level conference of bankers.

Yediyurappa asked the secretaries to regularly hold progress review meetings pertaining to implementation of developmental works every month and submit reports to the respective ministers so as to resolve any problems expeditiously.

He also asked the officials expedite land acquisition process for projects pertaining to development of infrastructure and directed the Revenue and Forest Department officials to resolve any problems through mutual coordination and consultation.

The Chief Minister regretted that the safe drinking water units and multi-village drinking projects have failed or not working satisfactorily in most villages and asked the officials to study the situation and take necessary corrective measures.

The files pertaining to Sakala scheme must be disposed of quickly and the Sakala and other files should not be held up for more than a week, the Chief Minister said.

The meeting decided to expedite implementation of the different housing schemes. While construction of 1.5 lac houses have already been completed, and construction of another 1.09 lac houses were under progress.

Welfare of SC/STs

Under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Special Component schemes, Rs 11,642 crore had been released out the total allocation of Rs 30,444 crore and the expenditure was Rs 9,667 crore. The Chief Minister asked the officials to complete all the programs and spend the funds released by March 15.

He also asked the Social Welfare Department, Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Departments to ensure timely release of the hostel expenditure payments and scholarships.

Though the Centre had fixed the target of coverage of 7 lac employees under the Employees Insurance Scheme, the State Government has requested the coverage must be increased to 8 lac employees in the State. The meeting also discussed enhancing the assistance to the building construction labourers under the Welfare Fund for building construction labourers.

Deputy Chief Ministers Dr C N Ashwathanarayana and Govind Karjol, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Miniser K S Eshwarappa, Revenue Minister R Ashok, Housing Minister V Somanna, Large and Medium Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar, Women and Children’s Welfare Minister SashikalaJolle, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister H Nagesh, Animal Husbandry Minister H Nagesh and Chief Secretary T M Vijayabhaskar as well as Chief Minister’s Advisor M Lakshminarayan attended the meeting.

The other directions of the Chief Minister are:

* Compulsory implementation of e-office system in all departments.
* Steps to safeguard and provide security to women travelling in the city in the evenings and at nights.
* Strengthening the police bandobast arrangements during evening and in the nights.
* Strengthen the patrolling by women police during nights.
* More attention to improve the conditions of roads in Bengaluru.
* Immediate steps to protect and develop the lakes in the city.
* Ensure speedy disposal and collection of the garbage in the city.