Dharwad: Dharwad Zilla Panchayat President Chaitra Shirur has ordered the suspension of 34 district level officials who remained absent for the trimonthly review meeting of the Karnataka Development Programmes (KDP).
Taking serious note of the absence of those key officials Shirur, who presided over the meeting at the zilla panchayat auditorium here, observed that most of the chairs meant for the officials were vacant. Irked over the absence of the officials at a crucial meeting, she asked the officials concerned to find out how many officials were absent.
Later, she asked zilla panchayat Chief Executive Officer Snehal R to initiate stringent disciplinary action against absentee officials to whom notices of the meeting had been sent well in advance.
Responding to this, Snehal said that she would recommend suspension of officers who remained absent for the last two or three meetings adding that those remaining absent for gram sabhas will also face the music.
The behaviour of officials was causing embarrassment to the elected representatives as they were answerable to the people, Shirur said adding that she had received complaints about Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) in Hubballi taluk demanding money to issue work order under the employment guarantee programme and asked the CEO to take action against the officers concerned.
ZP Vice President Shivanand Karigar opined that the issue of PDOs demanding money was not confined to one taluk but it was rampant in the entire district.