2 Kerala officials arrested for embezzling relief materials
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 24 : Two Kerala government officials were arrested on Friday in Wayanad district for the embezzlement of relief materials, police said.
A senior police official told IANS that the arrests were made based on a complaint received from another senior government official.
According to the complaint, the two accused, S. Thomas and M.P. Dinesh, were stopped by residents at a relief camp Panamaram village while they were loading the relief materials into a vehicle.
Thomas and Dinesh said that they were moving the materials to another camp in the village. But the residents called the police and upon interrogation it was found that they lied.
Meanwhile, a similar incident was also reported from Chengannur where the accused was a temporary government official.
Relief materials have been coming into Kerala from various places ever since the heavy monsoon rains hit the state on May 29 followed by subsequent floods leading to some 370 deaths and displacing over a million people from their homes.
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K’taka to launch special drive for drinking water tests in gram panchayats amid rising temperatures
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Bengaluru: As summer intensifies across Karnataka, the state government is preparing to initiate a special campaign to test drinking water across the state.
A directive is expected to be issued to all chief executive officers of zilla panchayats, instructing gram panchayats within their jurisdictions to conduct water quality tests, as reported by The New Indian Express on Thursday.
Karnataka has around 6,000 gram panchayats and their staff have been trained to conduct field tests. They check the water quality for 12 parameters, including potential of hydrogen (PH), chloride, fluoride, iron, nitrate, alkalinity, residual chlorine, and total dissolved solids. The hydrogen sulfide test is also conducted to check the presence of bacteria.
The testing has been made mandatory after several drinking water contamination cases have been reported over the years across the state, added the report.
Anjum Parvez, Additional Chief Secretary for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, said that water quality testing is routinely mandated twice a year—once before and once after the monsoon season.
“During pre-monsoon, groundwater level goes down and the quality of water has to be checked. Post monsoon, the flow of water is more, and the threat of contamination is not high, but even then water is tested. Potable drinking water is our priority,’’ TNIE report quoted Parvez as saying.
He also noted that panchayat development officers and engineers regularly inspect water supply pipelines for leakages.
The state government has taken disciplinary action in past cases involving supply of contaminated water and is now conducting special campaigns to prevent such incidents.
