Mangaluru : Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Krishna Byre Gowda on Tuesday directed officials concerned to identify rain-damaged rural roads that are not covered under annual maintenance to get them restored through natural calamity relief funds.

Chairing a review meeting of the department here, Mr. Krishna Byre Gowda said that agencies that have constructed roads under “Namma Grama, Namma Raste” scheme should be reminded of their responsibility of restoring damaged roads.

Officials have to prepare working plans for roads not covered under annual maintenance and submit them to the district administration for restoration under natural calamity funds, the Minister said. Roads under maintenance scheme have to be repaired by contractors concerned, the Minister said. He noted that the district has 8,336 km rural roads, of which 705 km are under annual maintenance scheme.

Mr. Krishna Byre Gowda, who paid a field visit in Bantwal taluk before the meeting, said that the vented dam concept is working well in the district and urged officials concerned to expand the project across the district.

The Minister noted that over 290 projects have been completed and work on another 460 is in progress. The administration should target to have at least 30 vented dams for every panchayat through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Mr. Krishna Byre Gowda said. Many works, including compound walls of schools, expanding the area of horticulture, etc., could be undertaken under MGNREGA, he said and added that one should not seek government help for every work. The district has received ₹ 150 crore for expansion of horticultural area under MGNREGA and the funds should effectively be used, he said. This would also help creating more assets in the district.

Complimenting the district administration for executing scientific waste management programmes in 40 gram panchayats, Mr. Krishna Byre Gowda said that the initiative has to be expanded across the district. Udupi district has done a good job in this regard, he said.

Of late, villages too have become small cities with considerable generation of wet and dry wastes thereby affecting environment. As farmers are in need of manure, everyone should concentrate on converting wet waste into manure, he said and added that people should be sensitised about waste segregation.

District in-charge Minister U.T. Khader, Bantwal MLA U. Rajesh Naik, Zilla Panchayat president Meenakshi Shantigodu, vice-president Kasturi Panja, Chief Executive Officer M.R. Ravi and others were present.