By K K Aiyamma
The simmering differences between Kodagu Zilla Panchayat president B.A.Harish and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Charulatha Somal came to fore again, reports Deccan Herald.
Harish claimed that;
Panchayat development officer (PDOs) are not issuing no objection certificates (NOCs) for the construction of farm houses. Also that officials are also not taking action against the officers for razing a government building at Gonikoppa bus stand, he charged. Are the elected representatives like you, playing with the people ?, he asked.
Somal took offence and clarified that:
No objection certificates are not issued for Patta lands following the amendments brought to some laws. Moreover, except in Madikeri taluk, no objection certificates are issued to farm houses in other taluks.
Interestingly, according to sources – Madikeri & Kushalnagar is the place which has seen most of land deals happening at Coorg in the last 5 years, many benami.
Countering that claim, Harish showed an order copy issued by a panchayat development officer against building a house at Kottur village (survey number 64/1 near Kushalnagar) in the district, despite permission issued by tahsildar. Though Somal promised to look into the issue, Harish was not willing to let it go and blamed the former accusing her of issuing the permission.
“Royal treatment” provided to the Diddihalli tribals also came up at the meeting. “Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) officer Prakash explained that Rs 21 lakh has been spent on installation of Closed-circuit television (CCTV)?cameras to keep a tab on tribals who are still unwilling to shift.”. The whopping amount spent on CCTV installation is worth pondering about.
Your’s sincerely has 7 CCTV’s + Compatible DVR at his home and it costed Rs 45,000.
With that kind of amount(21 Lakh), they can install around 300 cameras and spy on the whole of Madikeri.
