Karnataka: Department report puts Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya in a spot

BENGALURU: A report released by Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya to reporters on Saturday resulted in an embarrassing situation for the minister as questions were raised about development works that he had claimed were taking place in places that he had visited. However, the list in the report pegged all works as ‘under progress’, leading to the minister blaming his officers for the goof-up.

While announcing his decision to stay at a tribal colony on New Year’s Eve, the minister handed over a report about the works taken up at the colonies that he had visited earlier. Ironically, in the report, almost all the works that he spoke about were mentioned as “under progress”. When reporters pointed this out, the embarrassed minister said officers in the department are “backward” and have not prepared the report properly.

In his press conference, Anjaneya said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has convened a meeting on January 13 to discuss implementation of Justice Sadashiva Commission report. The Commission report on internal reservation has recommended reclassification of all scheduled castes. He said some groups are demanding for implementation of the report, while some groups are opposing it. All these issues will be discussed during the meeting of MLAs and MPs convened by the Chief Minister, he said.

On the caste census conducted by the state government, the Minister said they are currently carrying out cross-verification of the data collected during the census. Once that is done, the report will be ready, he added. The minister, however, did not give any timeline for releasing the report. “The CM will decide that,’’ he said.