Karnataka sticks to stand on implementing Mekedatu project, Congress backs BJP govt
Bengaluru, Jul 12: Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday reffirmed that the state will not stop the Mekedatu drinking water project across Cauvery river, which is opposed by neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
The opposition Congress in the State said it would stand with the government if it performs the groundbreaking ceremony.
"We have already submitted the Detailed Project Report to the Central Water Commission.This project is related to utilising the additional water for drinking purpose.Karnataka has every right to commission this project," Bommai said in a statement.
"There is no reason to stop the Mekedatu drinking water project. We will certainly implement it," he added.
According to Bommai, already an order related to the Cauvery water sharing has come, which has given guidelines on how and when the Cauvery water should be released for Tamil Nadu.
Congress Karnataka unit president D K Shivakumar extended his support to the Mekedatu project.
"Let the government do the 'Bhumi Puja' for Mekedatu project tomorrow itself, we stand with the government," Shivakumar said in a statement.
Stating that Tamil Nadu will keep on creating controversies with regard to Mekedatu even after 100 years, Shivakumar wondered why the BJP government was not using its status of "double engine government" at the Centre and the state to finish the project.
He even promised to keep aside all political issues and stand with the government.
Shivakumar said "All political parties of Tamil Nadu have a common agenda of opposing the Mekedatu project.Their agenda will remain same even after 100 years.'
"Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa needs political will power to take up the Mekedatu project," the state Congress chief said.
"It's our money, our place and our water.Tamil nadu has no say on this," he added.
Stating that Mekedatu project comes under Kanakapura assembly constituency, which he represents, Shivakumar said the water will be used for Bengaluru and for electricity generation.
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UP: 19-year-old allegedly gang-raped by 23 people over six days, six arrested
Varanasi (UP), Apr 7 (PTI): A 19-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped by 23 people over six days, with the accused drugging her and taking her to several hotels as they passed her on for abuse, police said here on Monday. Six of the accused have been arrested.
Additional Commissioner of Police, Cantonment, Vidush Saxena said the woman had gone out with some youths on March 29. Her family filed a missing report on April 4 when she did not return home.
When the police rescued her, she did not mention about the rape, he said.
However, the survivor's family on April 6 lodged a complaint alleging that she had been gang-raped.
The woman told the police that between March 29 and April 4, the accused allegedly took her to many hotels and hookah bars and gang-raped raped her, the officer said.
The police said 11 unnamed persons have also been booked. Out of 12 named accused, six were arrested on Sunday, and efforts are on to nab the rest of the accused.
The woman's mother in her complaint said that her daughter had gone to her friend's house on March 29. "On the way back home, she met a boy named Raj Vishwakarma, who took her to his cafe in Lanka, where Raj and his other friend did 'bad acts' with her.
"The next day my daughter met a boy named Sameer, who was on a bike with one of his friends. Sameer took her on the bike to a highway and did a 'bad act' with her on the bike itself and left the girl at Nadesar," she alleged.
"The next day, on March 31, a boy named Ayush along with his five other friends named Sohail, Danish, Anmol, Sajid and Zahir took her to Continental Cafe in Sigra and made her drink intoxicants and raped her one by one. On April 1, a boy named Sajid along with his friend took her to a hotel, where two-three other people were present.
"There, a man raped her and them threw her out. As she was leaving the place, she met a boy named Imran on the way, who also raped her in a hotel after making her drink intoxicants. Later, when the girl screamed, he left her outside the hotel," the mother alleged in her complaint to the police.
On April 2, a boy named Raj Khan took her to the roof of his house in Hukulganj where he tried to rape her after drugging her. When the woman screamed, the youths took her to Assi Ghat in an intoxicated state and left her there, her mother alleged.
On April 3, a person identified as Danish took her to his friend's room and there Sohail, Shoaib and some other boy drugged her daughter and raped her. Later, they left her near Chowkghat. The next day on April 4, her daughter came home and told them about her ordeal, the complainant said.
The named accused have been identified as Raj Vishwakarma, Sameer, Ayush, Sohail, Danish, Anmol, Sajid, Zahir, Imran, Jaib, Aman and Raj Khan.
A case has been registered under sections 70(1) (gang rape), 74 (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 123 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc., with intent to commit an offence), 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 127(2) (wrongful confinement) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the police said.
