Activist wants Moily to apologise for ‘misleading’ people on Yettinahole and more..
The Hindu
Environmental activist K.N. Somashekar, one among those fighting against the Yettinahole water diversion project, on Saturday sought a public apology from the former Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily for ‘misleading’ people by saying that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had cleared the project.
Activist K.N. Somashekar speaking at a press conference in Mangaluru on Saturday. —Photo: H.S. Manjunath
Mr. Somashekar told presspersons here that besides Mr. Moily, he has also sought an apology from Venugopal, Superintending Engineer of Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd., Tumakuru circle. Both have been issued notices seeking public apology, failing which he would initiate contempt of court proceedings before the NGT bench at Chennai.
Applications
He also said that three applications filed by Purushottam Chitrapur, Kishore Kumar and Yathiraju were pending before the tribunal while his application was pending for admission, challenging the project. In such circumstances, Mr. Moily had made the reported statement for political gains and to mislead people in arid regions of the State, Mr. Somashekar said.
He also alleged that the government was attempting to drag the hearing in cases even as the tribunal is deferring hearing in cases.
When arguments were almost completed on the maintainability of the three applications by December 2015, the Advocate General of Karnataka appeared before the Tribunal in January and raised afresh the maintainability issue.
Still, the applicants advanced fresh arguments and the order was reserved in February.
Despite repeated pleas, the order on maintainability was not pronounced while the tribunal said its expert member was transferred to Delhi and his signature was pending.
Arguments
During May, the Tribunal said that the expert member had resigned without signing the order and arguments have to be advanced afresh and posted the case to July 4.
Any judicial officer would sign pending orders before demitting the office, either on retirement or by resignation. The state of affairs with this particular case appears strange, Mr. Somashekar said.
Nethravati Sanchaya leader Dinesh Holla and others were present.
Government seeks to nationalise bus routes in entire State
Valid private bus permits to continue; no new permits to private operators, says draft notification
Taking a big step in protecting the interests ofState road transport corporations (RTCs), the Karnataka government has decided to nationalise all bus routes in the State for the exclusive operation of RTCs, while allowing only “existing, valid and in operation” private bus permits to continue.
A draft notification issued on Friday by the Transport Department implies that the KSRTC, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Northwest KRTC and Northeast KRTC can offer services on new routes to the exclusion of private operators.
It seeks to cancel all the 21 route nationalisation ‘schemes’ of the KSRTC and bring in only one ‘Karnataka scheme’. A scheme means identification of routes or a district for the exclusive operation of the KSRTC as provided by the Motor Vehicles Act. Aggrieved persons can file objections to the draft notification within 30 days from its publication.
Two reasons appear to have compelled the government to come out with the new scheme. The T.M. Vijay Bhaskar Committee, appointed by the government following the Supreme Court direction in December last, has held that 3,225 permits that overlap/intersect with nationalised routes issued to private operators were illegal. He had recommended cancellation of those permits. The aggrieved operators have now moved the High Court against this recommendation. Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy told The Hindu that the proposed Road Transport and Safety Bill 2015, of the Union government, if enacted, would compel the RTCs to compete with private operators. Since the RTCs in south India were robust, the governments intended to protect them. When routes in the entire State were nationalised, there would be no scope for entry of other operators, he said.
KSRTC Staff and Workers Federation general secretary H.V. Ananthasubba Rao has welcomed the move. KSRTC Managing Director Rajender Kumar Kataria said the RTCs were geared to meet any additional demand as they had spare buses.
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