K'taka HC takes up suo motu PIL on Bengaluru Metro pillar collapse
Bengaluru, Jan 13: The High Court of Karnataka on Friday initiated a suo motu (on its own) public interest litigation on the death of a woman and her child due to the collapse of an under-construction Bengaluru Metro pillar pier here.
Commencing the hearing on the PIL petition, Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagri cited news reports about the accident and expressed concern.
The reinforcement cage of an under-construction pier collapsed and fell on a two-wheeler near HBR Layout here on January 10, causing the death of a woman and her child.
The court sought answers from officials concerned on the safety measures undertaken and whether tender documents specified safety measures.
It also asked whether the state government has issued orders on the safety measures and fixed the responsibility of contractors and officials involved in the construction.
The HC included the State, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) as the respondents in the case.
Notices were ordered to be issued to the respondents and the hearing was adjourned.
Tejaswini, a 28-year-old software engineer and her toddler son died in the incident while her husband and daughter escaped.
The BMRCL has sought the help of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to conduct an independent probe into the matter and also suspended its engineers involved in the construction.
An FIR has been registered against Nagarjuna Construction Company and seven others including a BMRCL deputy chief engineer and an executive engineer.
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BJP has history of ‘contradictory alliances’, says BK Hariprasad
Bengaluru: Congress MLC B. K. Hariprasad has launched a sharp attack on the BJP, accusing the party of hypocrisy over its criticism of alliance politics in Tamil Nadu.
In a post on X on Friday, Hariprasad said BJP leader B. L. Santhosh criticising the Congress party’s alliance politics in Tamil Nadu was “not just laughable, but the height of political contradiction.”
He said the Congress has always joined hands with like-minded parties to protect secular and democratic values in the country.
Hariprasad questioned the BJP over several of its past and present alliances across the country. Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tripura, Bihar and Maharashtra, he accused the BJP of sharing power with parties it had earlier criticised.
He alleged that the BJP had aligned with separatist and corruption-linked political forces in different states for political gains.
“The BJP, which speaks against alliances today, should first look at its own political history,” he said, adding that the party’s record was full of “contradictions and changing stands.”
Hariprasad also accused the BJP of using central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Department and CBI as political tools to target opposition leaders, topple governments and influence electoral mandates.
He further claimed that the people of Tamil Nadu had strongly rejected the BJP and its ideology in the recent election.
“Congress forms alliances to protect the Constitution, secularism and national unity, while the BJP enters into alliances only for power,” he said.
