Warangal, November 09: With the biennial Medaram jatara to be held in the last week of January not too far in the future leaders of the ruling party have begun gearing up to capitalise on it.
The government releases huge amount of funds for providing facilities to the tribal pilgrims and they are mostly misused by the people’s representatives which is evident in the fact that funds are released for the same type of works once in every two years for the tribal festival. This time the ruling party leaders are bringing pressure on the officials to award works on nomination basis. But the officials want to award all works through tenders alone as works being given to village development committees (VDCs) were lacking quality.
The works done by Integrated Tribal Development officials during last jatara were of so poor quality that the low-level causeway built on Jampannavagu was completely washed away during the torrential rains.
According to the usual practice, works worth more than Rs 5 lakh will be allocated to contractors through tenders. Those below Rs 5 lakh will be given to VDCs i.e. through nominations. And villagers of Medaram alone are eligible for taking up the nomination works.
However, the leaders of the ruling party have been insisting that works be allocated to VDCs as they can benefit from percentages by doing the works. In reality, works awarded to VDCs are mostly done not by the villagers but by outsiders.
Prominent among those bringing pressure on the officials are a minister of the district, husband of a former minister, who is also an MLC and an MP.
The government has sanctioned Rs 26 crore to various departments for jatara this year. Funds were given to Irrigation, Rural Water Supply, R&B, Panchayat Raj and Public Health departments.
An amount of Rs 4.5 crore was sanctioend to the RWS Department for laying pipelines, building tanks and providing drinking water to the pilgrims. Apart from this, taps should also be provided on the shore of Jampanna Vagu to enable pilgrims take bath. As part of temporary sanitation works, lavatories and bath rooms should also be constructed.
–Agencies