Cauvery Water Management Board
All party meeting to discuss issue: DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru, June 25: As the centre has notified the Cauvery Water Management Board without consulting Karnataka government, the government has decided to convene an all party meeting to discuss on further steps to be taken.
Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy along with Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwar and Water Resource Minister DK Shivakumar held a prolonged meeting with the higher officials at the Vidhana Soudha on Monday and discussed the pros and cons of formation of the Board.
DK Shivakumar said that Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari on June 18 related to formation of the Board and apprised both of them the apprehensions of the state and appealed them solve them.
Speaking to reporters later, Shivakumar said that the Prime Minister had promised of convening a meeting to discuss the issue. But within overnight, the centre has constituted the Board against the interests of the state. “The centre did not hear our grievances. As per the provisions made in the Board, if only six members attend the Board meeting, it is valid and can take decisions. But the state government has opposed this factor. Opinion from the Advocate General and legal experts was taken and it was also decided to convince the Supreme Court on the injustice to be meted out to the state”, he said.
They got the information that the Board meeting would be held on July 2. As there are chances of taking decisions against Karnataka state in the absence of the representatives from the state, it was decided to send Water Resources Department Secretary Rakesh Singh and Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited Managing Director HL Prasanna as state’s representatives. Before the next Parliament Session, it was decided to convene an all party leaders meeting to get their suggestions on next steps of the state government, he said.
The state government has already sent a letter to the Centre appointing two officers as the representatives of the state for the Board on June 23. “We are fighting neither with the center nor with the Supreme Court. But we want justice. We appeal the Prime Minister and the Supreme Court for the justice”, Shivakumar said.
As alleged by the Opposition party, the government has not delayed in this issue. It is the work of BJP to make allegation. But Cauvery water dispute is the state issue and he would appeal the Opposition leaders to join hands with the government for the interests of the state, he said.
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Three company directors held in Rs 100-crore investment fraud in Kochi
Kochi (Kerala) (PTI): Police on Sunday arrested three directors of a firm accused of cheating hundreds of investors of over Rs 100 crore through a fake investment scheme linked to agricultural tourism here, officials said.
The accused were identified as Muraleedharan, Ashik Murali and Akhil Murali, all natives of Thrissur.
The arrests were made by the Kalamassery police in connection with a fraud involving ATCOS (Agri Tourism Cooperative Society), a firm headquartered at Pathadipalam here.
Police said the company had promised high returns by collecting investments from the public in the agricultural tourism sector, but allegedly cheated hundreds of people and fled with the money.
ATCOS was registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and operated 13 branches across various districts in Kerala, besides a branch in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, officials said.
When investors failed to receive their promised returns or the invested amount, complaints were filed with the police.
Officials said around 54 cases have been registered against the firm in 32 police stations across the state, including 29 cases at the Kalamassery police station alone.
Following instructions from Kochi City Police Commissioner K S Mahesh Kumar, a special investigation team was formed under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Shehensha and Thrikkakara ACP Manoj Kumar.
The team traced the accused to an apartment in Amala Nagar in Thrissur, where they had been hiding after secretly renting the flat, officials said.
The bank accounts of the accused have been frozen, and steps have been initiated to trace their assets, officials said.
Police also conducted a raid at the company’s office at Pathadipalam and seized several documents related to the case.
The accused were produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kalamassery, which remanded them to judicial custody and sent them to Kakkanad jail.
Police said they would seek the custody of the accused for further interrogation as the investigation continues.
