Decision on free bus passes to students within a week: Minister
Bengaluru, July 18: Transport Minister DC Thammanna said that he would shortly meet Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and discuss issuing free bus passes to schools and college students.
Speaking to reporters at his officer at Vidhana Soudha here on Wednesday, the Minister said that Primary and Secondary Education Minister N Mahesh has already said that he would pay 25 per cent amount from the department for the free bus passes. The Transport department would pay 25 per cent amount and if the government paid remaining 50 per cent amount, the department would give free bus passes to all students. The CM was in New Delhi and soon after his return, he would discuss the issue and finalise it, he said.
He, along with the Education Minister would meet the Chief Minister and take a decision on issuing the free bus passes. The department would have burden of Rs 2000 crore if the free bus passes were distributed, he said.
Proposal to hike bus fare
Following diesel price hike, the department has a proposal to hike the bus fare of KSRTC, BMTC and other corporations by 20 per cent. But so far, no decision was taken. All transport corporations including KSRTC and BMTC have to pay the tax on diesel. With this, the state government would have around Rs 6000 crore revenue. Now, he would request the Chief Minister for Rs 1000 crore funds, he said.
Proposal for cess
The BBMP has been collecting cess for the development of roads and other infrastructure. On the same line, the government should take a decision to collect transportation cess. The BMTC has been striving hard to ensure good service to the people, he said.
Direct appointment
There were 400 posts were vacant in the department and a decision would be taken shortly on recruiting those posts through direct recruitment. Due to shortage of RTOs and traffic inspectors, the existing staff have to look after two-three offices, 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.
