‘Neglecting minorities in state Budget is not a good sign’
Former minister HK Patil writes to leaders
Bengaluru, July 06: Former minister and senior Congress leader HK Patil said that no particular programme was announced in the budget for the welfare of the minority community which is instrumental in electing the secular parties in the 2018 election, and it was not fair.
Patil expressed his displeasure in a letter written to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwar, state Congress incharge KC Venugopal and Housing Minister DK Shivakumar.
The budget should have had special programmes for the minority community and the poor in that community. Along with the programmes announced in the last budget, the Chief Minister should have announced some programmes for the welfare of the minorities in this budget keeping in mind the changed political scenario, he said.
Patil also urged the Chief Minister and others to announce a few programmes during the debate on the Budget before approving it and compensate the lacking. People of north Karnataka had their own expectations on the budget. In the previous government, several new taluks were announced and most of them were in north Karnataka. People were expecting that this budget would have a special programme to provide basic infrastructure to all those new taluks. But their expectations were not fulfilled, he said.
Regarding north Karnataka, the programmes announced in the last budget were once again repeated in this budget and no new programmes which can respond and fulfill the needs of the people of north Karnataka were announced in the budget of the coalition government, he averred.
This budget hurt the feelings and expectations of north Karnataka people. It was the duty of the coalition government to respect the feelings of those people. In view of this, the Chief Minister should announce special programmes in his answer before approving the Budget in order to alleviate the regional imbalance to ensure justice to north Karnataka, he demanded.
Convene coordination committee meeting
The Congress governments between 1999 and 2004, Congress-JDS government between 2004 and 2006 and in Congress government between 2013 and 2018, had tried to alleviate the regional imbalance through various programmes. It was better to announce some special programmes to develop the north Karnataka. It should be discussed in an emergency meeting of the coordination committee and find solutions, Patil appealed Coordination Committee chairman Siddaramaiah in his letter.
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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.
