Yadagiri: In a rather bizarre incident, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Avinash Rajendran Menon locked in all the Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) for a whole day for failing to conduct Grama Sabha in 13 Grama Panchayats of Surapura taluk regarding the distribution of houses.
It was directed to identify the houseless to distribute the houses under various government schemes. But, despite two years passing by, the PDOs did not even conduct a meeting, let alone identyfying the beneficiaries.
Though the Zilla Panchayat appointed 8 nodal officers and directed to conduct meetings, PDOs of 13 Gram Panchayats didn’t conduct the meeting. Around 2,000 houses are yet to be distributed for the year 2016-17, CEO Avinash said.
The act of the CEO has evoked sharp criticism from various quarters. Talking about the incident social activist Yankoba said that the PDOs are overburdened with work.
“The PDOs have the additional responsibility of 4 to 5 villages. Under this pressure, the Gram Sabha has been delayed. If there is any dereliction of duty, the senior officers should issur the showcause notice or suspend the staff. It unjust to lock them without food and water,” he said.
The PDOs were locked in a room from 10 am to 11 pm. Even the CEO was also in his chamber at night and demanded the PDOs to write down in a paper that they didn’t conduct the meeting.
