Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led government and Jagadish Shettar-led Opposition on Friday clashed and traded charges against each other over the Arkavathi Layout issue for almost three hours, without finding a solution to the vexed issue.
Siddaramaiah made use of his reply on motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the Assembly to rebut the Opposition charges on the issue and accused Shettar and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy of illegally denotifying lands during their tenure as chief minister. “I am clean. My conscience is clear. I have not done anything illegal,” he stated.
Shettar accused him of deleting 703 acres of BDA land in the name of re-do and demanded a CBI investigation, while Kumaraswamy charged the chief minister with running away from the debate. “Send me to jail if I have illegally denotified BDA land. I am ready to face any inquiry. Why are you (Siddaramaiah) shying away from ordering a probe if you are honest,” the JD(S) leader asked. Arkavathi Layout project was conceived in 2003, and it has not been completed yet.
Of 3,839 acres notified for the layout in 2003, about 2,073 acres have been deleted by the successive governments. There are several instances wherein sites allotted to applicants have been deleted and lands have gone back to original owners.
Like in the past, the chief minister wielded a set of documents accusing Shettar of directing the BDA to prepare a list of lands to be deleted as part of re-do exercise.
Kumaraswamy, who is known for releasing documents pertaining to scams, also flashed a bunch of documents accusing Siddaramaiah of deleting 703 acres in one go by signing the re-modified layout project.
“It is the biggest scam of the century in Karnataka. Guidelines laid down by the courts were violated and lands deleted to favour developers,” Shettar charged.
The chief minister also rolled out statistics on denotification done by subsequent governments since 2006 and asked the Opposition parties to submit documents, if any, to the Kempanna Commission. He also said his government is ready to extend the term of Commission, if necessary. He said he has so far denotified 22.28 acres as per court orders.
KPSC fiasco
This is not all. The leaders hit out at each others over KPSC recruitment issue. Kumaraswamy termed the government’s decision to cancel 362 gazetted probationer posts, as insensitive, leading to uproar in the House. Siddaramaiah took exception to it and claimed that it was done to root out corruption in KPSC. Shettar sought to know why the government has recommended persons facing corruption charges to be appointed as members to the KPSC.
On charges of allowing conversion of land use of 3.29 acres at Siddapura in Bengaluru in favour of a builder, Siddaramaiah said there was nothing illegal. The land use was converted from park and open space to residential under Section 69(2) of Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, he added.
In good health
The chief minister claimed finances of his government are in good health and claimed that Karnataka ranks first in revenue collection among south Indian States.
He attributed increase in cases of assault on women to increase in awareness among people. The Assembly passed the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address amidst BJP members staging a protest in the well of the House.
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