137 crucial files missing, 20 lakes illegally handed over to NICE: report

December 3, 2016

Belagavi, Dec 3: The Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project was the first-ever Public-Private Partnership project in Karnataka but has been mired in controversy ever since it was conceived.

Hulimavu

The project envisages constructing 111 km of expressway between Bengaluru and Mysuru, a 41-km peripheral road, a 9.8-km link road (both around Bengaluru) and five townships under Build-Own-Operate-Transfer basis.

An Assembly committee headed Law Minister T?B?Jayachandra constituted to probe irregularities in the implementation of the project has come out with several recommendation and observations. The panel has 11 members from both the ruling and the Opposition parties.

The report says that several government files pertaining to the BMIC project have gone missing and this has also led to irregularities in the implementation of the project.

As many as 137 files, which have to be preserved permanently going by the importance of the content, have gone missing. The files pertaining to the stamps and registration, the minutes of chief ministers' meetings, petitions filed in the Supreme Court, illegal mining, transfer of government land to the promoter among others have disappeared.

Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), promoters of the project, used 20 lakes extending over 213 acres for construction of the road.

Action should be initiated against those officials who illegally transferred the lakes to the company, the report says.

Thecommittee

An 11-member committee headed by T?B?Jayachandra was constituted in September 2014.

The panel held a total of 27 formal and 10 informal meetings.

The committee's terms of reference were to enquire into misappropriation in implementing agreements entered on April 3, 1997, for the project and violations of agreement conditions by the promoters and court orders.

Other observations

NICE violated framework agreement and constructed asphalt road instead of concrete road.

Objective of the project was to build an expressway between Bengaluru and Mysuru with five townships. However, even after 19 ye-ars, the project has not progressed beyond Bengaluru.

Promoters in the name of secrecy clause refused to furnish documents pertaining to the project to the government.

The project cost, investment details have not been provided to the government despite comfort letter for financial closure being issued to the promoters.

According to the agreement, stamp duty exemption had been given for 5,688 acres, but it was extended to 14,337 acres.

Illegal stone quarrying has been done at the project site and government has not been paid royalty of Rs 250 crore.

Former PWD?Secretary C?R?Ramesh, who represented the government during the initial stages of the project, is now one of the directors of NICE

NICE?has given Rs 274.99 crore as compensation to farmers, but 58% have rejected the same.

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News Network
May 18,2024

devaraje gowda.jpg

In a fresh claim, arrested BJP leader and advocate G Devaraje Gowda has alleged that Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and four other ministers were behind exposing Prajwal Revanna’s sex scam that has brought disgrace to Janata Dal (Secular) H D Deve Gowda family. 

Devaraje Gowda has been arrested in a sexual abuse case. 

Speaking to reporters while being taken to the district prisons, in Hassan on Friday, Gowda alleged that he was offered Rs 100 crore to drag the name of H D Kumaraswamy in the Prajwal’s case. 

“D K Shivakumar had offered me Rs 100 crore to project that H D Kumaraswamy was behind the case. The offer was made through ministers N Chaluvarayaswamy, Krishna Byre Gowda, Priyank Kharge and another minister. They had even sent Rs 5 crore as advance to Bowring Club. But I did not agree. Hence, they hatched a plot to trap me,” Gowda alleged.

“It is D K Shivakumar, who collected all information from Prajwal Revanna’s former car driver Karthik and readied the pen drive. A team of four ministers were formed to handle the issue. As I did not agree to the plan. They planned to bring disrepute to the BJP, Narendra Modi and H D Kumaraswamy,” he said.

Gowda further alleged that former MLC M A Gopalaswamy of Channarayapatna was sent to him for negotiation.

“The main intention of D K Shivakumar is to bring disrepute to Modi and BJP in the case. Besides, he wanted to defame H D Kumaraswamy’s leadership in the state” he claimed. “They filed a sexual harassment and rape case against me, but found no evidence. Now, they are trying to fix me in the pen drive case” he alleged.

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News Network
May 5,2024

Karwar, May 5: What commenced as a mere exchange of words between spouses swiftly transmuted into a calamitous ordeal, resulting in the heartbreaking loss of their innocent offspring. The heart-wrenching incident unfolded in the serene confines of Halamaddy village in the picturesque expanse of Dandeli, nestled within the idyllic expanse of Uttara Kannada district.

In the throes of a fervent dispute with her spouse, the aggrieved wife, succumbing to an overwhelming surge of emotions, callously propelled their tender six-year-old progeny into the somber depths of a nearby canal, thereafter alerting the local populace to her grievous act.

Promptly apprised of the distressing occurrence by concerned bystanders, the authorities were swiftly summoned to the scene to confront the harrowing aftermath.

Responding to the distress call, the diligent officers of Dandeli rural police swiftly converged upon the site where the innocent child had been cast into the unforgiving waters of the canal, subsequently effecting the retrieval of the child's lifeless form. 

Regrettably, it was discerned that a portion of the child's remains had been tragically claimed by the lurking jaws of a predatory crocodile.

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May 6,2024

Bengaluru, May 6: Arrested JD-S MLA H.D. Revanna, the son of former PM H.D. Deve Gowda, on Sunday said that there is no evidence against him in the sex video scandal kidnapping case and that it was a "conspiracy" against him.

Talking to the media, while being taken for a medical test before being produced in front of a court here, Revanna stated that a kidnapping case had been lodged against him though he does not have 'one black mark' against him in his entire career of 40 years.

"Without evidence, I have been targeted... All allegations against me are false. My arrest has been made out of ill intention," he claimed.

"The case was lodged on April 28, then, they did not have any evidence. Later, the fake evidence was created on May 2 and I was fixed," he alleged.

Home Minister Dr G. Parameshwara stated on Sunday that a Blue Corner notice has already been issued against Revanna's son and MP Prajwal Revanna, the prime accused in the sex video scandal, as he is believed to be abroad.

"The Interpol will communicate to all nations and he will be located. Once he is located, the SIT will take a call on how he should be secured and brought back to India," he added.

Revanna was arrested on Saturday on charges of kidnapping one of the victims of the sex video scandal.

Parameshwara further maintained that the arrest of Revanna has saddened JD-S leaders and if action was not taken, the SIT would be blamed too.

Meanwhile, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge refused to comment on the alleged sex video scandal involving Prajwal Revanna.

About Revanna's arrest, he said that the SIT would initiate action as per the law. "Those indulging in such acts must be taught a lesson and justice should be given to the families of victims. No one can escape the law. No one should use this case politically," he stated.

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