Belagavi
Public Works Department (PWD) will launch a complaint portal, allowing citizens to lodge complaints directly to the department about the works that it has taken up.
Addressing a press conference, Minister Satish Jarkiholi said the portal will be launched in a month. Once the portal is launched, people will be able to lodge complaints, if any, even through their cell phones. People can complain about substandard works along with pictures to support their claims. These complaints will be reviewed by me or the senior officials of the department. Action will be initiated against the concerned after inspection, if the complaint is true, he said.
According to Jarkiholi, the previous government has kept the pending bills amounting to Rs 6,000 crore in PWD alone. An average allocation of funds to the PWD is Rs 1,500 crore. But the last BJP government allotted three to four times more work than the available budget. Now it has become a big issue. It has happened not just in PWD but in other departments too, especially in the irrigation department, he said.
The Minister clarified that the payments of the contractors are being delayed because of the mistakes made by the BJP government. It will require a minimum two years to clear all the bills by adjusting the funds allotted to the department by the government, he said and added that, as the Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivkumar’s allegations, some bills have been cleared during the BJP government even without the works being done. Hence, the payments will be made only after conducting the inquiry of the works, he added.
Meanwhile, Jarkiholi confirmed the government’s plan of giving contracts of guest houses and inspection bungalows to private players for maintenance.
