Works worth Rs 1,499 crore completed under Smart City Project: UT Khader
Bengaluru, Jan 31: Urban Development Minister UT Khader said that so far, works worth Rs 1,499 crore were completed under the Smart City Project of the Central government and tenders were completed for other works worth Rs 1,407 crore.
Speaking to reporters at his office at Vikasa Soudha here on Thursday, the Minister said that the works worth rs 2,728 crore were in the DPR and all proposed works would start by February end.
Belagavi, Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Shivamogga, Hubballi-Dharwad, Tumkur and Davangere cities were selected under the Smart City Project and in five years, Rs 7,000 crore would be spent on various works, of which Rs 3,500 crore would be spent by the state government, he said.
The Smart City Project which has achieved zero per cent growth, has been accelerated and now the state was in the 9th position in the country.
Priority would be given to develop roads, vehicle stands, playgrounds and in each city, separate zones would be selected under the Smart City Project.
For example, in Davangere, puffed rice was famous and efforts were being made to produce them using modern technology. The funds would be utilized to develop slums. In Bengaluru, priority would be given to road developments, fixing LED lights to street lights and market development, he said.
It was not possible to develop the entire city under the Smart City Project. Any one part of the city could be developed as a model one. Works would be taken up only after getting approval from the central government.
In Mangaluru, proposals have been submitted to the centre on setting up of solid waste management, development of hospitals and slaughterhouses.
But so far, the state government has not received any response from the centre. Once again, letter would be written to the centre govt, he said.
On giving licences to construct buildings in local bodies like city corporation and city municipal councils, the Urban Development Department has finalized a by-law and issued an order. But the power to implement that by-law was left to the discretionary power of respective local bodies, he said.
In order to encourage the solar usage, concession was given from FAR norms which was considering the solar panel as the separate floor and measurement, he said.
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ED searches: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah accuses Centre of targeting Cong leaders
Chamarajanagara (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday accused the central government and its agencies of consistently targeting Congress members by using searches on their properties, and questioned why similar action is not taken against BJP leaders.
He was reacting to searches conducted by the Enforcement Directorate on Monday on several individuals, among them the sons of Karnataka Congress MLA N A Haris and the grandson of former Union Cabinet minister K Rahman Khan, in connection with a cryptocurrency-linked money laundering case.
"The central government always targets Congress leaders. Will they raid the houses of BJP leaders?" Siddaramaiah said in response to a question. More than a dozen premises in the city were searched as part of the operation carried out by the ED under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The premises searched comprised those of Mohammed Haris Nalapad and Omar Farook Nalapad, the sons of the MLA; Aqeeb Khan, the grandson of veteran Congress leader K Rahman Khan; and an alleged crypto hacker, Srikrishna Ramesh, alias Sriki, officials said.
The money laundering case stems from Karnataka Police FIRs and charge sheets filed in a 2017 case involving the hacking of national and international websites, theft of bitcoins, and the sale of these stolen virtual digital assets (VDAs) through crypto platforms by the alleged hacker Sriki and his associates.
Mohammed Haris Nalapad, Omar Farook Nalapad, and Aqeeb Khan are alleged to be beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime generated through this crypto-linked activity, officials added.
