Udupi; August 26: Udupi zilla panchayat members unanimously adopted a resolution at the 12th general body meeting that 10-kg of rice at Re 1 be provided to APL card holders in the district.
As the process of converting APL cards into BPL cards, in case the APL card holders are eligible to obtain BPL cards, not yet started by the taluk panchayat executive officials, there is need to make this work soon, the members opined.
B Arun Kumar Sangavi, the deputy director, department of food and civil supplies, said the card holders can convert their cards at gram panchayat level and with the franchisees if the card holders are residents of urban areas. Food inspectors will conduct a survey to know the authenticity of the applications. The members demanded relaxing the CRZ rules on par with Kerala and Goa states. A proposal has been sent to the department concerned, said an official from the department.
District health officer Dr Ramachandra Bairy told the members that the department has identified 2,156 endosulfan victims in the district during the primary survey and Rs 11.20 crore has been proposed in the action plan to provide them treatment and other benefits. In all, Rs 50 crore has been proposed for the endosulfan victims in three districts. A meeting will be chaired by the district in-charge minister in this regard. The members raised complaints that a few government schools in the district did not receive the fund of Rs 5,000 allotted to procure vessels for boiling milk.
DDPI Nagendra Madhyasta said that out of 1,006 schools, the amount was released to 950 schools and necessary action will be initiated to ensure that fund is allotted. There was uproar in the initial hours when the members lambasted zilla panchayat president Upendra Nayak, accusing him of stalling funds required for the repair of various roads. Babu Shetty, a member, said that an action plan should be prepared and money released immediately.
