The Hindu : `Central team was taken on a guided tour'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 11, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

`Central team was taken on a guided tour'

H.N. Ananth Kumar, member of Parliament and President of the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, speaking to children at Mitra High School in Bangalore on Saturday after inaugurating classrooms. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE, JAN. 10. Ananth Kumar, member of Parliament and President of the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), today alleged that the Government organised a "guided tour" for the Central team of officials which visited the State recently to assess the severity of drought, and the team was not taken to drought-hit areas.

He was addressing presspersons after inaugurating classrooms built with a grant from the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) Fund at St. Peter and Paul Kannada School at J.J. Nagar here.

Mr. Kumar alleged that the Government had failed to remove loopholes in the execution of drought relief works. Government officials failed to take the 10-member team of officials from the Agriculture Ministry, led by the Joint Secretary, Satish Chander, to drought-hit places where irregularities in the execution of works were reported. Irregularities in the distribution of foodgrains continued to hamper relief work, and the people affected by drought did not benefit from the visit of the team, he alleged.

The BJP leader said he would soon meet the Union Agriculture Minister, Rajnath Singh, and explain to him the reasons for irregularities in the drought relief works in the State. Despite several appeals from the BJP, the State Government had not conducted an inquiry into irregularities in relief works. The BJP would continue to protest against the Government's "failure" to address farmers' problems and its decisions pertaining to the multi-crore stamp paper scam, he said.

Earlier, Mr. Kumar inaugurated three classrooms of Mitra High School at Avalahalli near Srinagar which were constructed at a cost of Rs. 5 lakh under the MPLAD Fund. The classrooms of the St. Peter and Paul Kannada School were constructed at a cost of Rs. 4.5 lakh with aid from the fund.

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