Belagavi: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar recently said that a meeting of MLAs and officials would be held under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition to discuss the Jalahalli underpass work.
Replying to a question from MLA Muniraju during Question Hour in the Legislative Council, he said, “The construction work was given to a contractor named PGB in 2021 for an amount of Rs 57 crore. As many as 48 property owners have been given compensation till now. The total compensation for the project is Rs 85 crore. The land acquisition amount has been estimated to be around Rs. 139 crore. Compensation of Rs 53 crore needs to be paid out. TDR also need to be given.”
He was replying a question on pending dues in compensation for the Jalahalli underpass project.
Replying to BJP MLA Munirathna who raised the point that many works are pending in his constituency as well, the DCM said, “I have given answers to Muniraju, who had raised the questions. I will respond to you if you raise the questions.”
Priority for Somashekar’s constituency
To a question raised by Yeshwanthpur MLA S T Somashekar on white topping work of Holiday Village road, the DCM said, “Bommanahalli and Yeshwanthapur constituencies are large constituencies. I have personally inspected the white topping work. I will call the contractors and speak to them. The white topping work is going on and there are delays due to shifting of some utilities. It is not a big deal to blacklist contractors but getting the work done is important. I have taken special interest in Somashekar’s constituency.”
Hitting out at the BJP for not raising the issues of Upper Krishna and Upper Bhadra projects in the Assembly session, the Deputy Chief Minister said that the objective of the Belagavi session was to discuss issues pertaining to North Karnataka.
Speaking to reporters at Belagavi airport and Circuit House, he said, “The Centre has not given the promised Rs 5,300 crore for Upper Bhadra and it has not given approval for the Mahadayi project. The Centre has not issued a Gazette notification for the Upper Krishna project. Why is BJP not talking about these things?”
Asked about the ‘Hate speech bill’, he said, “We are a civilized society and there is no place for hatred. We are bringing this legislation to keep peace and law and order in society. This will do good for the state.”
GBA Bill
The Greater Bengaluru Governance (Second Amendment) Bill, meanwhile, was passed in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
Tabling the Bill in the Legislative Assembly, Shivakumar, who is also Bengaluru Development Minister, said: “Some parts of the GBA come under the constituencies of MP Sudha Murthy and Chikkaballapur MP Sudhakar and some other representatives’ names from the GBA jurisdiction had been left out. This Amendment is to add those names. The names of the Chief Secretary and the Additional Secretary of Urban Development have also been included in the Committee. We have also included Opposition party leaders as members of the GBA Committee.”
BJP MLA Suresh Kumar, participating in the discussion, said, “There are 369 members in the GBA. If the government adds one nominated person for every 20,000 population, there would be another 369 members. This would create confusion.”
Replying to Kumar, the DCM said, “There is no election for Greater Bengaluru Authority and hence this issue doesn’t arise. We will need to include new representatives when new areas are included in the GBA and hence we had made provision for nomination. We will remove this provision as per your recommendation.”
Leader of the Opposition, R Ashoka, participating in the discussion, said, “The members of Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council do change their addresses at times. Sometimes, they go and vote in different places which would tantamount to illegal voting. These representatives must have voting rights in one place for the tenure of five years.”
Replying to Ashoka, the DCM said, “I am in agreement with your comments. But GBA is not an elected body and hence that question doesn’t arise.”
Participating in the discussion, MLA Basavaraja Rayareddy, who is also the Economic Advisor to the CM, said, “The law doesn’t permit this. If residence changes, one naturally becomes a voter of that region.”
