Gadag CEO warns officials over low employment generation

Rona Gadag Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Mukul Jain has warned that disciplinary action will be taken against officials who fail to generate employment under the VBJ-RAM-G scheme, expressing concern over the low number of person-days recorded in the taluk. Addressing a progress review meeting at the Rona Taluk Panchayat hall, Jain said there were sufficient opportunities to provide 125 days of employment to eligible people under the scheme. He questioned why these opportunities were not reaching workers and directed Gram Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) and scheme staff to prioritise employment generation. Jain instructed officials to identify suitable collective works wherever they had not been included in Gram Panchayat action plans. He directed them to prepare supplementary action plans, obtain approval and begin work immediately. He also questioned Mallapura PDO Lakshmi Godi over the failure to generate even a single person-day since she assumed charge. Expressing displeasure over delays in preparing an estimate for a new Gram Panchayat building, Jain directed the concerned engineering officials to complete the necessary procedures and initiate tendering after the Model Code of Conduct was lifted. He also instructed officials to conduct Gram Sabhas according to regulations after the code period and update the details in the Panchatantra system. Jain said directed officials to recruit women drivers for solid waste management vehicles wherever vacancies existed. The CEO reviewed the progress of Sanjeevini, housing schemes, BRS and Sakala programmes and instructed officials to demonstrate measurable progress within a week. The meeting was attended by Deputy Secretary C.R. Mundaragi, Executive Officer Chandrashekhar B. Kandakur, Assistant Director of Panchayat Raj Shivanagouda Menasagi and other district and taluk-level officials, along with PDOs, scheme staff, villagers and workers. Jain reiterated that providing employment at every Gram Panchayat level was the responsibility of officials and warned that negligence would invite disciplinary action.