Shivamogga (PTI): Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday inaugurated India's second-longest cable-stayed Sigandur bridge here.

While senior BJP leaders attended the event, none from the state cabinet attended it.

According to officials, the bridge constructed across Sharavathi backwaters between Ambaragodlu-Kalasavalli in Sagara taluk of this district has been built at a cost of Rs 472 crore.

This bridge is expected to significantly reduce the distance from Sagara to the villages around Sigandur, a place which is known for the Chowdeshwari temple.

The event was attended by Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, Senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, among others.

However, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah or any of his ministers did not attend the event.

Recently, Siddaramaiah had urged Gadkari to postpone the inauguration of the bridge and foundation stone laying ceremony of infrastructure projects at Sagara taluk in Shivamogga on July 14, stating that he was not informed in advance.

Citing his scheduled visit to Indi taluk in Vijayapura district, the CM in a letter to Gadkari had said, it would have been more appropriate for MoRTH to have consulted with the state government before scheduling such a programme, and requested him to instruct the officials in this regard.

Noting that an inauguration programme of various developmental schemes is already scheduled under his Chairmanship in Indi taluka of Vijayapura district on the same day, he said it would have been more appropriate for MoRTH to have consulted with the state government before scheduling the state-level programmes.

 

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Dhaka (PTI): A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to 10 years in jail in two separate corruption cases related to alleged irregularities in allocations of land in a government housing project.

Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-4 Judge Rabiul Alam handed down the verdicts, sentencing Hasina to a total of 10 years’ imprisonment — five years in each case, state-run BSS news agency reported.

The court sentenced 78-year-old Hasina, her nephew Radwan Mujib Siddiq, and her nieces, Tulip Rizwana Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq, and others in the cases over alleged irregularities in the allocation of plots under the Rajuk New Town Project in Purbachol.

The judgment was pronounced at around 12.30 pm.

Tulip Siddiq was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment — two years in each case — while Radwan Mujib Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq were each sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in both cases.

Rajuk member Mohammad Khurshid Alam, the only accused to surrender before the court, was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment in each case, totalling two years.

The court also fined all convicted persons Tk1 lakh each and ordered them to serve an additional six months in prison in default of payment.

Hasina has been living in India since she fled Bangladesh on August 5 last year in the face of the massive protests. She was earlier declared a fugitive by the court.

The cases were filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over alleged abuse of power in the allocation of two 10-katha plots.

According to the prosecution, the accused manipulated the allocation process and violated existing rules and regulations of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk).