Drought makes leaders, officials richer

Forest Minister Jogu Ramanna has assigned project officer R.V Karnan the task of conducting an inquiry into misappropriation of funds and bogus works ostensibly initiated under various drinking water schemes.

These schemes include digging borewells and transportation of potable water, all intended to alleviate the suffering of people who are still walking long distances to collect water for the daily needs. The project officer must submit inquiry report in one month.

This move comes in the wake of allegations about widespread misuse of funds, meant for the digging of borewells, rural drinking water projects and transportation of potable water under various schemes from 2009 to 2014, that is before the state’s bifurcation.

A sum of Rs 10.40 crore in the special fund was released to alleviate the drinking water problem in the district.

In most cases, contractors, officials, and political leaders were hands in glove on the various drinking water schemes taken up in the past in the district. 

These schemes were taken up with the help of the MPLAD funds, Nabard, World Bank, on- CRF grants (Central Road Fund grants), ITDA, RWS and Assembly Constituency Development Programme Schemes.                

Khanapur MLA Azmeera Rekha Naik has alleged that bills were claimed without borewells being dug and nor overhead tanks being constructed by contractors at various villages in her Assembly constituency.

In most cases, contractors, officials, and political leaders colluded in various drinking water schemes that have taken up in the last five years in the district. These schemes were taken up with       

People further alleged that depth of borewell inflated beyond the actual depth to which digging took place and contractor claimed money for the inflated depth.

Collector M. Jagan Mohan said that they would make digging borewells a priority, second only to digging open wells and later transporting the water to the villages that were facing acute drinking water shortage.

There are pending bills to the tune of Rs 11 crore regarding potable water transportation and borewells dug in the past. Rs 28 crore was released recently to the gram panchayats under 14^th Finance Commission.

Now, MPTC, ZPTC, and Sarpanches are eyeing the special funds and Finance Commissions too under the guise of addressing the drinking water problem in the district.

Nearly Rs 70-80 lakhs out of special funds to be allotted to each Assembly constituency for this purpose this summer.      

Mancherial MLA Diwakar Rao said that Sarpanches were not ready to release the funds they got from 14^th Finance Commission for drinking water problem, and it was better to use special funds to reach drinking water to the people.           

Borewells fail to serve purpose

workers repairing a defunct borewell 

The indiscriminate digging up borewells has failed to benefit the people this summer despite the government spending vast amounts of money on this exercise every summer.

The majority of borewells have gone dry, but they benefit the drilling rig machine contractors. Government officials have been sanctioning borewells, indiscriminately violating the norms of the WALTA Act-2002.

The success rate of getting water with digging a borewell is small, with the efforts mostly going waste or yield little water.

Officials concerned claims that they were supplying drinking water in tractors to 110 villages facing acute drinking water problem in the district. The RWS officials have taken few local agriculture wells on rent to supply drinking water to the people in the villages facing severe drinking water problem.     

“Digging borewells has become a boon for drilling rig machine contractors and local political leaders but there is no much benefit to the people who continue to suffer without water to drink,” he pointed out.

Digging of borewells is high in Nirmal division and that too in the mandals along the river Godavari. Recently, ministers promised the ZPTCs sanction of 20 borewells each mandal.

The majority of borewells dig up in the past become defunct with the minor repairs and due to drastic fall in the ground water table and some of the borewells giving some water after flushing. Some of the farmers digging up borewells in the Godavari river shore to give water to agriculture and use drinking water purposes.

There are many villages in Dilawarpur mandal where indiscriminate digging of borewells takes place every summer season, with some of the villagers digging up to a depth even of 400 feet deep to get water, but not succeeding as the ground water table has fallen drastically.

Atram Jalimsha, sarpanch of Pangidi village in Sirpur (U) mandal, said that the state government should focus on creating a permanent water source to meet the people’s drinking water needs instead of putting large sums of money into digging borewells. 

Rs 24 crore released under14th Finance Commission to the district, and the amount would be re-distributed to 866-gram panchayats in the district. The funds will be used to mitigate drinking water problem.

The RWS officials sent Rs 28 crore proposals to the state government to take measures including de-siltation of wells and flushing, cleaning borewells to ease the drinking water problem in the district.

Village schemes confused people

  

Most of the villagers, Sarpanches and other elected representatives of local bodies were confused with no much difference between ‘Mana Vooru Mana Pranalika’ launched in the past and now Grama Jyoti schemes introduced by the TRS government in the state.

There is not much difference between the two schemes except the date of launch. The former was launched recent past and the latter would be launched on August17. 

The both the schemes are similar in many of the aspects. There is not much difference between the two programs as far as action plan for the development of the gram panchayats.

Even the officials, who attended meeting on Grama jyoti held in Hyderbad, kept talking, in low voices,that the only difference is telling the people in grampanchayats about their limited funds they get from various central government schemes like 14^th Finance Commission, BRGF, SC and ST sub-plan for the development under Gram jyoti unlike Mana Vooru Mana Pranalika for which funds were assured by state government.

However, officials concerned say that state government wants to be practical with regard to development works to be taken up in gram panchayats and required funds to complete them in the Grama Jyoti unlike ‘Mana Vooru Mana Pranalika’.

A senior officer of district planning dpartment said, ‘the developmental works proposed under Mana Vooru Mana Pranalika are impractical as they are huge in numbers and the works required hundreds of crore.

‘Works relating to CC road, worth Rs 10 crore, were proposed in a village under Mana Vooru Mana Pranalika and providing such a huge funds for roads in a single village was difficult for the government ’.

The officer said the state government is replicating development models of Grampanchayats successful in Kerala and Orissa under Grama Jyoti.

State government is showing the funds to be allotted to the Gram Panchayats under various schemes being implemented by the state and central government.

K. Rajeshwar of Talamadugu opined that it seems that both the ‘Mana Vooru Mana Pranalika’ and Grama Jyoti were similar in many aspects and added that how the state government will go for new works without completing the works proposed under Mana Vooru Mana Pranalika.

‘I do not understand the logic behind announcing many schemes with same model for the development of the grampanchayats’, he said.