Revenue dept issues to be solved soon: Minister
Mangaluru, June 25: Housing and Urban Development Minister UT Khader said that he has directed the district incharge secretary and the deputy commissioner to submit a report on finding solutions to revenue issues like land conversion and other issues while constructing houses in the district.
Speaking to reporters after holding a meeting of elected representatives and officials at Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) at Mallikatte here on Monday, the Minister said that the officials would discuss on technical issues related to Revenue department on Tuesday. Both the officers would discuss with the organizations and give a report within next three days. Based on the report, he would try to solve the problems, he said.
Smart City- MD will be given free hand
Khader said that Mangaluru Smart City Project is being prepared to make it a model to the entire country, for which, people should also be smart and cooperate with the administration. The Managing Director of the Smart City Project would be given complete power to implement the project effectively and the officer was directed to convene a meeting once in 15 days on the progress of the project. The MD was also directed to recruit the human resources for the project. The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) consultant would be kept in a constant vigil and SPV MD would be given power to carry out the project work. Once in a month, District Incharge Secretary and Deputy Commissioner should conduct the management meeting and while doing this, the City Corporation should be taken into consideration. Apart from this, district minister, Lok Sabha Members and MLAs would conduct the meeting to review the progress of the project, he said.
Linking roads from NH to be developed
It was planned to develop the linking roads from National Highway. In order to develop Thokkottu- Jeppinamogaru-Mahakalipaddu- Morgans Gate road as six lane or four lane, a delegation of Lok Sabha Member and elected representatives would meet the Railway Minister and appeal him for 50 per cent funds out of total funds required for the project. If the centre denied the funds, either state government or the city corporation would find solution to the problem, the Minister said.
MLC Ivan D’Souza, MLAs Vedavyas Kamath, Bharat Shetty, Mayor Bhaskar Moily, corporators Premananda Shetty, Shashidhar Hegde and others were present.
Chemical use to preserve fish: Truth will be out
When asked about using chemicals to prevent fish from deteriorating during transportation, Khader said that he would direct the concerned authorities to check the fact behind this issue. Steps would be taken to unfold the truth through the Deputy Commissioner.
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Ex-PM Devegowda warns opposition of electoral losses if they continue to allege 'vote chori'
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda on Monday said the Opposition parties would "suffer" if they continue to raise allegations of "vote chori" and create suspicion in the minds of voters by blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, he criticised the Opposition for making a mockery about the Prime Minister "in the streets and on the public platform".
"This (India) is a very big country. A large country. Congress may be in three states. Remember my friends please, by using the words 'vote chori' you are going to suffer in the coming days. You are not going to win the battle," Devegowda said, referring to the Opposition members.
He asked what the Opposition is going to earn by "blaming Narendra Modi's leadership and creating a suspicion in the mind of the voters" through the claims of "vote chori".
"What has happened to their minds? Let them rectify," Devegowda said.
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The former prime minister said that during his over seven decades of public life, he has never raised such issues of vote theft despite facing defeat in elections.
He also cited a letter written by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding inclusion of "18,000 votes" (voters) in Kerala.
"Why I am telling this (because) during the Nehru period also, there were certain lapses in the electoral system," said Devegowda, who was the prime minister between June 1, 1996 and April 21, 1997.
He said that the Congress party faced defeat in the recent Bihar elections despite raising the issues of mistakes in the electoral rolls.
"What happened after that even after so much review (of voters list). Think (for) yourself! You got six MLAs," the senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader said.
Devegowda questioned the Opposition as to why they want to make allegations against the prime minister on the issue of the voters list?
"Election Commission is there. Supreme Court is there. The Election Commission has given direction to all the state units to rectify all these things," he said.
Devegowda said people of the country have full confidence in Narendra Modi's government and it will come back to power after the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
K R Suresh Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party's Rajya Sabha member from Telangana, said that electoral reforms are the backbone for a healthy democracy.
He said a large and diverse nation like Indi needs clean electoral rolls.
Asserting that strict re-verification should not become a mechanism for exclusion, Reddy said no eligible voter should lose their right to vote simply because accessing paperwork is difficult.
He said while the concern definitely is on the voters' exclusion, "we should also be equally concerned about the percentage of voting."
"What is happening in voting today? Once the election ends, the drama begins. The biggest challenge that the Indian democracy has been facing in spite of two major Constitutional amendments has been the anti-defection. Anti-defection is the name of the game today, especially in smaller states, especially where the legislatures are small in number," Reddy said.
The senior BRS leader suggested creation of a parliamentary committee "which would constantly look into the defection" and "ways and means to cutting that".
AIADMK's M Thambidurai raised the issues related to election campaigning.
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"Election campaigns are one of the important election processes. In that, political parties must be given the proper chance to campaign," he said and cited problems faced by his party in Tamil Nadu in this regard.
Thambidurai said political parties were facing hardships in Tamil Nadu to conduct public meetings and to express their views to the public.
YSRCP's Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy stressed on bringing electoral reforms at both the state and national levels.
He also suggested replacing Electronic Voting Machines with paper ballots in all future elections.
"EVM may be efficient but can't be trusted. Paper ballot may not be efficient but can be trusted. You need trust in democracy," Reddy added.
