Udupi : Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister of State for Fisheries, Youth Services and Sports, on Monday directed the Chief Engineer of Varahi Irrigation Project to hold a meeting of all engineers of the project along with the Assistant Commissioner and also officers of the Forest Department within a week to sort out all problems of people connected to the project.

He was chairing a review meeting of officers of the Varahi Irrigation Project along with officers of Revenue and Forest Departments, here.

A farmer said that eight families in Kakkunje village had sought compensation for land acquired for the project in 2013. Another farmer said that four houses had been damaged due to controlled blasting for the project in Molahalli. Though an application was moved for compensation, no action had been taken, he said.

When Mr. Madhwaraj asked the engineers if they were aware of the complaints, the latter struggled to answer. “Are you not filing complaints? Are you not going through files?” he asked. When an engineer said that there was pendency of only 20 files, Mr. Madhwaraj asked how he was not aware of these problems if the pendency was so low.

“When ₹ 579 crore has been spent on the Varahi Irrigation Project so far, why is it that applications for compensation have not been cleared. It is a case of grave injustice. Why are the engineers not seeking reimbursement when it is the fault of the contractors?” he asked.

Mr. Madhwaraj then directed Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis to hold a meeting of the engineers of the project soon to check the pendency of files.

Pratapchandra Shetty, MLC, said that all the issues and problems connected to farmers found little resonance with the engineers of the project. They had got used to passing the buck and relying on lame excuse that they were appointed to their posts recently, he said.

Mr. Madhwaraj said that the engineers might have got transferred and taken charge of their posts here recently. “But the files would have been prepared over the months and years. All they required is to go through them and dispose them of. How could be files be kept pending for months and years?” he asked.

Gopal Poojary, Byndoor MLA, Kota Srinivas Poojary, MLC, Shilpa Nag, Assistant Commissioner, and Jayashree, president of Kundapur Taluk Panchayat, were present.