Bengaluru (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in poll bound Karnataka's northern districts of Yadgiri and Kalaburagi on Thursday to lay foundation stone and inaugurate projects worth more than Rs 10,800 crores.
This will be the second such visit by the Prime Minister to Karnataka this month. He was in Hubballi on January 12 to inaugurate the National Youth Festival, during which he had held a massive road show.
According to an official release, at around 12 noon, in Kodekal, Yadgiri district, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone and inaugurate various developmental projects related to irrigation, drinking water besides a National Highway development project.
Later, at around 2:15 PM, Modi will reach Malkhed, Kalaburagi District, where he will distribute title deeds (hakku patra) to the eligible beneficiaries of newly declared revenue villages and also lay the foundation stone for a National Highway project.
The visit also gains significance, as the ruling BJP prepares for assembly polls in Karnataka and has set a target of winning a minimum of 150 out of total 224 seats which will go for polls by May.
Aimed at providing safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections to all households, Modi will lay the foundation stone for Yadgir multi-village drinking water supply scheme under Jal Jeevan Mission at Kodekal in Yadgiri District, also a Water Treatment Plant of 117 MLD will be built under the scheme.
The project, which costs more than Rs 2,050 crore, will provide potable water to about 2.3 lakh households of more than 700 rural habitations and three towns of Yadgiri district.
During the programme, the PM will also inaugurate Narayanpur Left Bank Canal Extension Renovation and Modernisation Project (NLBC ERM).
The project, with a canal carrying capacity of 10,000 cusecs, can irrigate 4.5 lakh hectares of command area. It will benefit more than three lakh farmers in 560 villages of Kalaburgi, Yadagir and Vijaypur districts. The total cost of the project is about Rs 4,700 crores.
Later, he will also lay the foundation stone of the 65.5 km section of NH-150C. This 6-lane Greenfield road project is part of Surat Chennai Expressway. It is being built at a cost of about Rs 2,000 crore.
Further pointing out that about 1,475 unrecorded habitations have been declared as New Revenue villages in five districts of Kalaburagi, Yadgiri, Raichur, Bidar and Vijayapura, the release said, at Malkhed village of Sedam Taluka of Kalaburagi district, the Prime Minister will distribute title deeds (hakku patra) to the eligible beneficiaries of these newly declared revenue villages.
The issuance of title deeds to more than 50,000 beneficiaries, who are largely from the marginalised and vulnerable communities from the SC, ST and OBC, is a step to provide a formal recognition from the government for their land, and will make them eligible for receiving government services like drinking water, electricity, roads etc.
During the programme, the Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of the 71 km section of NH-150C. This 6 lane Greenfield road project is also part of Surat Chennai Expressway. It is being built at a cost of more than Rs 2,100 crore.
Surat Chennai Expressway will pass through six states- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. It will reduce the existing route from 1,600 Kms to 1,270 Kms.
The PM after finishing with his engagements in Karnataka will leave for Mumbai.
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Seoul (AP/PTI): South Korea's president apologised Saturday for public anxiety caused by his short-lived attempt to impose martial law earlier this week hours ahead of a parliamentary vote on impeaching him.
Yoon Suk Yeol said in a brief televised address Saturday morning he won't shirk legal or political responsibility for the declaration and promised not to make another attempt to impose it.
He said he would leave it to his conservative political party to chart a course through the country's political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office."
South Korean lawmakers are set to vote later Saturday on impeaching President Yoon over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, as protests grew nationwide calling for his removal.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the motion submitted by opposition lawmakers would get the two-thirds majority required for Yoon to be impeached. But it appeared more likely after the leader of Yoon's own party on Friday called for suspending his constitutional powers, describing him as unfit to hold the office and capable of taking more extreme action, including renewed attempts to impose martial law.
Impeaching Yoon would require support from 200 of the National Assembly's 300 members. The opposition parties that jointly brought the impeachment motion have 192 seats combined.
That means they would need at least eight votes from Yoon's People Power Party. On Wednesday, 18 members of the PPP joined a vote that unanimously cancelled martial law 190-0 less than three hours after Yoon declared the measure on television, calling the opposition-controlled parliament a “den of criminals” bogging down state affairs.
The vote took place as hundreds of heavily-armed troops encircled the National Assembly in an attempt to disrupt the vote and possibly to detain key politicians.
Parliament said Saturday that it would meet at 5 pm. It will first vote on a bill appointing a special prosecutor to investigate influence peddling allegations surrounding Yoon's wife, and then on impeaching Yoon.
The turmoil resulting from Yoon's bizarre and poorly-thought-out stunt has paralyzed South Korean politics and sparked alarm among key diplomatic partners, including neighboring Japan and Seoul's top ally the United States, as one of the strongest democracies in Asia faces a political crisis that could unseat its leader.
Opposition lawmakers claim that Yoon's martial law declaration amounted to a self-coup and drafted the impeachment motion around rebellion charges.
The PPP decided to oppose impeachment at a lawmakers' meeting, despite pleas by its leader Han Dong-hun, who isn't a lawmaker and has no vote.
Following a party meeting on Friday, Han stressed the need to suspend Yoon's presidential duties and power swiftly, saying he "could potentially put the Republic of Korea and its citizens in great danger.”
Han said he had received intelligence that during the brief period of martial law Yoon ordered the country's defence counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain unspecified key politicians based on accusations of “anti-state activities."
Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, later told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Yoon called after imposing martial law and ordered him to help the defence counterintelligence unit to detain key politicians.
The targeted politicians included Han, opposition leader Lee Jae-myung and National Assembly speaker Woo Won Shik, according to Kim Byung-kee, one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting.
The Defence Ministry said it had suspended the defence counterintelligence commander, Yeo In-hyung, who Han alleged had received orders from Yoon to detain the politicians. The ministry also suspended Lee Jin-woo, commander of the capital defence command, and Kwak Jong-geun, commander of the special warfare command, over their involvement in enforcing martial law.
Former Defence Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who has been accused of recommending Yoon to enforce martial law, has been placed under a travel ban and faces an investigation by prosecutors over rebellion charges.
Vice Defence Minister Kim Seon Ho, who became acting defence minister after Yoon accepted Kim Yong Hyun's resignation on Thursday, has testified to parliament that it was Kim Yong Hyun who ordered troops to be deployed to the National Assembly after Yoon imposed martial law.