Mysuru: Seven months having passed in the current fiscal year, the B R Ambedkar Development Corporation (Schedule Caste) and Valmiki Development Corporation (ST) have not spent a penny. This fact surfaced during the monthly “SC/ST Sub Plan” review meeting, held under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner D Randeep.
On November 15, Deputy Commissioner D Randeep was taken aback when he came across the two departments and found that they hadn’t spent a penny since the time they got funding in the state budget. After reviewing the progress, the DC took both district managers, Bharathi (B R Ambedkar Development Corporation) and Parameshwarappa (Valmiki Development Corporation) to task.
When asked to explain the reason for the lacklustre performance, the officials claimed that the MLAs were yet to submit a list of beneficiaries. Hearing this, he gave them an ultimatum saying that if there was no progress by December 15, action would be taken against the both of them.
The money alloted to both the corporations, this year, was a total of Rs 50 Crore- B R Ambedkar Development Corporation got Rs 42 Crore and Valmiki Development Corporation got Rs 8 Crore.
Speaking to Newskarnataka, DC Randeep said, “The officials should have informed me about the delay in the submission of the beneficiary lists instead of just putting the blame on the MLAs. Both the officials have not undertaken any major work and have made zero progress so far, which is really surprising.”
He also said that he would convene a special meeting after the Kannada Sahithya Sammelana and even hold a one-day workshop in order to give a briefing about the various schemes available for the SCs and STs.
Keeping in mind the upcoming elections, Randeep instructed the officials to speed up their work and perform as if the financial term end was February 15.
