BENGALURU: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said there was a need to rethink of the white-topping of roads as it costs 10 times more than the regular asphalting. Replying to a question by Congress MLC S Ravi in the council on Thursday, the CM pointed out that a km of regular asphalting costs Rs 70 lakh to Rs 1 crore, while it costs Rs 9-10 crore for white-topping.
“I agree that the quality of the white-topped roads is better and durable, but we need to think at what cost we are doing it,” he said.
“In all, 1,911.14 km of new roads were constructed at Rs 1,449.83 crore in BBMP limits in the last five years, while 100.60 km of new white-topped roads at Rs 1,014.20 crore was developed. Besides, Rs 4,110.05 crore was spent on road management. In the last three years, Rs 125.04 crore has been spent on filling up potholes in Bengaluru. Eleven people had died in 12 accidents that occurred because of potholes,” Bommai told the House, to which Ravi replied that a large number of people have been injured in accidents because of potholes.
When the members advised the Chief Minister not to implement any project through the Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd alleging that the agency has been involved in irregularities, the CM said the government has stopped giving works to the agency and is investigating the irregularities.
No schemes for minorities stopped
To a question by Congress MLC C M Ibrahim, Bommai said no schemes announced for the welfare of minorities have been stopped, except ‘Shaadi Mahal’ that was stopped last year. “We have restarted Ganga Kalyana and have increased grants for Arivu scheme. We are also developing slums and colonies where people from minority communities dwell,” he added.
BMRCL recruitment
JDS MLC K T Srikantegowda asked the CM to consider giving jobs to those who appeared for exams held to fill up various posts in BMRCL in 2019. The CM replied that 38,344 applications were received and the recruitment process was on. “As the pandemic hit, the BMRCL also suffered losses as Metro stopped running for almost two years and the recruitment notification was cancelled. For fresh recruitment, a new notification will have to be issued”.
KPSC to be revived
The CM also said there were two-three major problems with the KPSC and he has held meetings to discuss solutions to the problem and revive the commission soon.
In the house
Cong: Officials working for BJP
Congress MLA Soumya Reddy on Thursday alleged that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials are working for the BJP government for the upcoming elections. Raising the issue in the Assembly, Soumya, who represents Bengaluru’s Jayanagar Assembly constituency, said the polls are coming and these officials play an important role in adding and deleting names from the electoral rolls. “Why don’t you change the name of the civic body to the Bruhat BJP Mahanagara Palike?,” she said.
Rs 2,317 cr scammed in Guru co-op bank
Cooperation Minister S T Somashekhar said the annual general body meeting of Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank Niyamitha has been scheduled for March 29. After a discussion on the status of the cheating case registered against the bank, the minister said the auditing of one year is still pending and as of now, the scam is of the magnitude of Rs 2,317 crore, out of which, Rs 924 crore was availed by 24 people. “The government has taken all steps to protect the interest of the investors. Currently, all accused involved in the case are out on bail. The government is thinking to frame stringent laws to ensure that the accused in such financial frauds do not get bail,” he said. When Congress MLC U B Venkatesh suggested that the names of the 24 defaulters should be made public, the minister replied that it will be done soon.
Why do legislators need gunmen? MLC asks HM
BJP MLC Ayanur Manjunath asked Home Minister Araga Jnanendra to withdraw gunmen provided to legislators. After Jnanendra replied to a question on the security provided to VVIPs and others, Manjunath asked why do legislators, who are elected by the people, need gunmen. “Most of the legislators have gunmen. What is the need of security for them? Do they have any threat from the people who elected them?” he questioned. Jnanendra said security is provided as per protocol to VVIPs and based on threat perception to others.
Panchayat amendment bill passed in Assembly
The Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which allows for disqualification of persons, dismissed from government services, from being a member of panchayats, was passed in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday. The Bill proposes to disqualify a person, who has been subject to compulsory retirement, or dismissal from service under the central or state governments, co-operative societies and institution from being a member of gram, taluk and zilla panchayats.