Siddu suspends Vijayanagara district DDPI, local BEO

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah ordered the suspension of Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) of Vijayanagara district and the local taluk’s Block Education Officer (BEO).

He made the decision during the Vijayanagar district progress review meeting in the Deputy Commissioner's (DC) office in Hospet on Friday.

The CM was upset about the district falling from the 10th position to 27th position in terms of education in the Human Development Index (HDI).

During the meeting, Siddaramaiah contacted the Education Department Secretary Ritesh Kumar Singh over the phone in the middle of the meeting, questioned about the poor performance of the district and directed that both DDPI and BEO should be suspended immediately.

“A notice should be given to the CEO and directed to make serious plans for the educational progress of the district,” the CM said.

The DDPI was also asked to leave the meeting by district-in-charge minister Zameer Ahmed.

Delay in farm relief questioned

Another issue that came up in the meeting is the delay in compensation for farmers’ suicides and Siddaramaiah demanded that corrective measures be taken.

Officers informed the CM that 34 farmers had committed suicide in 2023-24. Siddaramaiah expressed dismay over delay in disbursing compensation in five cases of farmers’ suicide due to delay in the submission of Forensics Science Laboratory (FSL) report.

“Obtain the FSL report within 20 days,” he said. Deputy Commissioner (DC) MS Diwakar disclosed that Rs 130 crore had been disbursed in the district by way of drought compensation to farmers in Vijayanagara district.

District in-charge Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan, Chief Minister's Political Secretary K Govindaraju, Chief Minister's Financial Advisor Basavaraja Rayareddy, MP Prabha Mallikarjun, MLAs Gaviyappa, Kampli Ganesh, Latha MP Prakash and others were present in the meeting.