Over Rs 90 crore spent on smart cities in Karnataka: Minister U T Khader
Belagavi, Dec 12: Karnataka Minister for Urban Development and Housing U T Khader Wednesday said Rs 91.34 crore has so far been spent on seven cities in the state that have been selected under the Smart City project.
The central and the state governments have each earmarked Rs 886 crore for the project.
Responding to a query from BJP MLA K S Eshwarappa during question hour, the Minister said new guidelines and rules have been framed under the project and creation of a special purpose vehicle for it have been the cause for the delay in its implementation in the seven cities - Belagavi, Davangere, Hubballi-Dharwad, Shivamogga, Mangaluru, Tumkuru and Bengaluru.
Noting that central government had launched the Smart City project in June 2015, Khader said this was different from other projects, as it required introduction of new rules which required more time.
Also, cities were selected for the project in various rounds and consultants have been appointed in all the cities, he said.
Further, detailed reports on the project were underway and work was on in all the cities, but in some of them, the project was at the nascent stage, the Minister said adding that special purpose vehicles have been set up in all the smart cities.
To this, several BJP leaders including opposition leader B S Yeddyurappa, Jagadish Shettar and Eshwarappa stressed the need for a supervisory committee to oversee the implementation of the project.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
