Lavish lunch in drought-hit Davanagere lands central team in soup

Davanagere/Hubballi: A 10-member inter-ministerial central team visiting 17 drought-hit districts across Karnataka landed in controversy after they partook of a sumptuous Sunday lunch at a village in Davanagere district.
When the team visited Niluvanchi village in Harapanahalli taluk on Sunday afternoon, the district administration had organized lunch at Moraji Desai Residential School at Nazeer Nagar.The menu included chicken and mutton chops, egg masala, roti and ragi balls.
This drew sharp criticism from various quarters, with many likening the team to emperor Nero, and questioning the district administration’s ‘imprudent move’. “Groceries provided to the students of the residential school were used,” they alleged.
Many farmers, who had assembled at the spot, slammed the district administration for organizing the treat. “When we’re suffering, what’s the necessity to serve non-veg food to the team, that too on a school premises?” asked a farmer.
Davanagere deputy commissioner Gautham Bagadi, however, said only chicken dishes were served to the team and denied the allegation that they had used groceries of the school. “We have brought food from a hotel and served it to officials,” he claimed.
Meeting today
On Monday, the central team will meet officials of the state departments in Bengaluru before submitting a report to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The team, led by department of agriculture cooperation and farmers welfare joint secretary Amitabh Gautam had arrived in the state on Friday after a state delegation, led by chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, met PM Narendra Modi on September 10 in New Delhi.