Siddapur: Rural Development & Panchayatraj Minister K S Eshwarappa said that all the gram panchayat buildings in the State will soon have solar power facility. A report in this regard will be prepared in another 15 days.

Speaking after inaugurating the new building of Korlkai (Adukatte) gram panchayat in Siddapur taluk on Tuesday, Eshwarappa informed that Rs 1,500 crore funds had been released by the ministry for improvement of existing roads and construction of new roads and soon, the works would begin. He also said that the Union government’s Solid Waste Management project would be implemented in all the gram panchayats in the State.

Legislative Assembly Speaker Visweshwar Hegde Kageri, who presided over the programme, said that there were sufficient funds available under the Employment Guarantee Scheme. But it was not possible to take up works useful for the farmers under these funds. Therefore, provisions must be made to ensure that the works taken up under the scheme benefit the farmers.

He asked elected representatives at all levels to ensure that the problems being faced by the people were brought to the notice of the government.

Zilla panchayat member Sumangala Naik said that several roads in rural areas of Uttara Kannada district had damaged and needed repair. This apart, the gram panchayats were not providing the Pahanis. This year, many people could not complete the house construction work under the Basava Housing Scheme due to heavy rain. Such houses which have been left incomplete have been included in the black list. This was causing problem to the people. All these issues must be addressed soon.

Taluk panchayat President Sudheer Gowdar and Korlkai gram panchayat president Nataraj Jiddi also spoke.

Zilla panchayat member Nagaraj Naik and M G Hegde Gejje, taluk panchayat standing committee president Mahabaleshwar Hegde, member Padmavathi Madiwal, zilla panchayat Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Roshan, Tahsildar Manjula Bhajantri and others were present. 

Korlkai (Adukatte) gram panchayat contractor Arunkumar was felicitated.