Do you have parking space? Only then you can buy a new car!
Bengaluru, June 20: Transport Minister DC Thammanna said that the state government is planning to give permission to purchase new cars to only those who have parking space.
Speaking to reporters at the Vidhana Soudha here on Wednesday, he said that the government has planned to control the purchase of diesel cars. As the first step, steps were taken to reduce the registration of new diesel cars. The department would start campaigns to use community transport system to ease traffic congestion. He would shortly submit a proposal to the Urban Development Department to develop roads, he said.
No bus fare hike
The department meeting would be held under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister on June 27 and 28 wherein budget issues would be discussed. Issues like hiking bus fares including BMTC would also be discussed. As of now, there is no proposal to hike bus fare. But steps would be taken to compensate the losses, he clarified.
Free bus pass
Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy would shortly announce on giving free bus passes to all students irrespective of any categories on the line of SC/ST students. The government has already decided to issue free bus passes 19.6 lakh students including SC/ST categories. In the Congress government, then chief minister Siddaramaiah had announced free bus passes. But the Finance department did not approve the proposal. But he has discussed with the Chief Minister now and the latter has agreed ‘in –principle’ to issue free bus passes, the Minister said.
The free bus passes to SC/ST students would cost Rs 114 crore to the state Exchequer and the Social Welfare Department would bear that cost. In the same way, the department would re quire Rs 629 crore to give free bus passes to backward classes and general category students. As per the existing norms, out of the total cost, the government should bear 50 per cent, KSRTC 25 per cent and the beneficiary 25 per cent cost. For free bus pass, students need not pay anything. Now, it is the question of this 25 per cent amount. If either the Education department or the government provided that amount, the department is ready to issue free bus passes, he said.
“If we want to control the private bus operators menace in the state including Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and other districts, all routes should be nationalized. It is impossible task as of now. The system should be corruption-free right from the bottom to top. I have already directed the authorities to check corruption wherever it is possible”.
- DC Thammanna, Transport Minister
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Election Commission has become a puppet of govt: Cong MP Ajay Maken
New Delhi (PTI): Congress Rajya Sabha member Ajay Maken on Thursday alleged that the Election Commission has "become a puppet of the government" and questioned how democracy can survive in the absence of a level playing field, transparency and credibility of the electoral process.
Initiating a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, Maken said that while India proudly claims to be the mother of democracy, the three fundamental conditions for a fair election -- level playing field, transparency, and credibility -- have been systematically undermined.
Accusing the Election Commission (EC) of refusing to provide machine-readable electoral rolls, hiding IP addresses and destroying evidence within 45 days, Maken said, "Today, the Election Commission has become a puppet of the government".
The EC's job is to win 'trust', but today its job has become to create 'suspicion', he added, citing examples of how voter turnout figures increased in Haryana assembly elections on the day of result announcement from the figures put out two days earlier.
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He said the commission remained silent when asked about the origin of extra votes and assembly and booth-wise data.
Also, he accused the EC of not providing to the CID -- which was investigating the matter of fake application forms in the Aland assembly constituency of Karnataka -- the IP address and port number of the computers from which the forms were filed.
"If the umpire wears the jersey of a team, what will the other team do? If the umpire itself fixes the match, what will the players do?" he asked.
Commenting on the absence of a level-playing field in the electoral process, Maken pointed out the growing disparity in the finances between the BJP and Congress from 2004 to 2024.
He accused the government of using various tactics to deprive the opposition parties of funds.
In the last 20 years, since 2004, the BJP's bank balance has increased from Rs 87.96 crore to Rs 10,107.2 crore, while that of Congress increased from Rs 38.48 crore to Rs 133.97 crore, Maken pointed out.
He accused the government of unleashing the ED and IT departments on Congress to deprive it of funds just ahead of elections, while also using the agencies to prevent businessmen and big industrialists from donating to the party.
"I have spoken to businessmen, big industrialists. They said that during the time of the Congress government, they used to contribute (to political parties) in a 60:40 ratio. At present, let alone 90:10, even at a 95:5 ratio, we (businesses) can't give it to you because the moment we do it, ED and IT will come after us, and we are not allowed to do anything," Maken claimed.
How can democracy survive in this situation? he wondered.
When the ruling party has 75 times more money than the Opposition, how can there possibly be a 'level playing field', Makan said, adding that all the money that went to the BJP was "all thanks to electoral bonds".
Responding to the allegations, BJP member Sudhanshu Trivedi (BJP) accused the Congress of creating a ruckus instead of availing the avenues available to them to seek redressal of their grievances.
Taking the example of a cricket match, he said, when a team feels that a batsman was out, but the umpire has not declared so, they can seek a review. However, instead of going to the umpire for review, Congress has been holding press conferences, in anticipation that the third umpire would give the decision on his own.
Trivedi wanted to know why the Congress has not asked for CCTV footage of the Bihar elections even after 45 days of polling.
On 'vote chori' allegations in Bihar, he said Congress' vote share has been reducing over the years, and what was left there to be stolen.
Hitting back at the allegation of lack of transparency, Trivedi said in the election for Congress president, in which Mallikarjun Kharge was elected, 22 Congress leaders sought voter lists, but they were not provided as per media reports.
Those who do not share the voter list for their own party election are lecturing others on transparency, he noted.
