BSY govt stalls civic works worth Rs 642 cr launched by Cong-JDS govt, faces flak

Agencies
September 21, 2019

Bengaluru, Sept 21: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka has put on hold civic works worth Rs 642 crore across 139 local bodies, a move that came under attack from Congress and JD(S) which termed it as "partisan" politics.

Funds have been put on hold in Arsikere, Holenarsipura and Belur, all of which are JD(S) constituencies. Interestingly, H D Revanna, the brother of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, is the MLA from Holenarsipura.

The previous Congress-JD(S) regime had allocated the funds to the local bodies under the special grants of the State Finance Commission (SFC), according to a letter by the Urban Development Department.

The letter said that as per the directions of the Finance Department, the funds have been put on hold. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who holds the finance portfolio, heads the department.

Amid speculations that the funds have been diverted for flood relief works or to BJP-ruled segments, both Congress and JD(S), which earlier helmed the coalition government, has condemned the move.

"Never before in history has a new government stopped the work of the previous government. Civil works and tender have been stopped. Work orders have been stopped. Development has come to a standstill. Funds are being tried to be diverted to the BJP MLAs," Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao told ANI.

"On one hand, Yediyurappa said in the assembly he will not do any vengeful politics. But they are indulging in this. They have stopped the work in Bangalore, Hyderabad-Karnataka region and other places. We have not seen any government in Karnataka doing partisan politics," he said.

Echoing similar sentiments, Congress leader V S Ugrappa accused the Yediyurappa government of misusing their position for its political ends.

"Development has to take place. Tender and other procedural aspects have been completed and funds were allocated to the concerned department. Any department head or the government has no business to stop such works. We condemn the attitude of the government. It is nothing but a misuse of their position for their political ends," he said.

"People of the state will come to know that this government is there only for making money and not being serious enough for development," he added.

Kumaraswamy also chided the BJP government for withholding the development funds and termed it as "shameless politics".

"We are stuck with the new legacy of @BSYBJP of Operation Lotus. They have shown their 'partisan' stance by cutting the allocation for development of sectors set by the coalition government. Give more funds if needed. What justice is there to snatch what is given? This is 'shameless politics'," he tweeted in Kannada.

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News Network
May 22,2020

Mangaluru, May 22: Dakshina Kannada today reported a fresh case of coronavirus infection, taking the coastal district's tally to 62. 

The new patient is a 29-year-old womon, who was under instituional quarantine monitored by the district administration in Belthangady. 

She had returned from Mumbai on May 18. Her throat swabs were sent for covid-19 testing on the following day and today she received positive result.

Out of the 62 covid-19 cases detected in Dakshina Kannada so far, only 50 are residents of the district. Among 12 others 4 are from Kasaragod and 3 from Karkala, 2 each from Uttara Kannada and Mumbai, and 1 from Kalaburgi.

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News Network
February 29,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 29: Dreaded underworld don Ravi Poojary's lawyer Dilraj has allegedly been kept out of hearing distance and as a mute spectator during interrogation by the police.

"The lawyer is a mute spectator out of hearing distance from the interrogation. He is not privy to what police ask Pujari," a source told media.

As directed by the court and requested by Poojary, Dilraj is allowed to be present near the interrogation for him to consult on legal issues, but the cops have made sure that he does not hear anything for fear of leaking information.

The court has also ordered the interrogation to be video graphed, which the police are carrying out.

Police sources said that Ravi Poojary is relaxed and cool during the multi-lingual interrogation.

"He is cool, giving frank replies. Poojary is exhibiting confidence in whatever he is telling. Maybe confidently lying, police are not new to him," said the source.

According to source, the gangster knows how to handle police, with sufficient knowledge to reveal how much he wants to, when to stop, when to talk, when to mislead and plant false information.

"Poojary is being interrogated in his mother tongue Kannada, Hindi and English. He is fluent in English," the source said.

However, the source denied speculation gaining currency that Poojary requested police not to send him to Mumbai fearing of being eliminated by the henchmen of dreaded underworld dons Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Rajan.

"Nothing of that sort happened. It doesn't work like that. He has been captured after 25 years, and he is not a king to choose. Wherever the law takes him, he will go there," said the source.

Rajan is serving a life sentence inside a high security cell in Delhi's Tihar jail.

Currently, the probe is focused on Tilknagar Shabnam Developers double murder shootout case. Police are discovering information, verifying it with respect to evidence and building the case.

Taking regular breaks, police are interrogating Poojary from morning till evening.

Of the over 200 cases against Poojary in the southern state, 39 are in Bengaluru, 36 at Mangaluru, 11 in Udupi on the state's west coast and one each at Mysuru, Hubballi-Dharwad, Kolar and Shivamogga in Malnad.

The other cases are in Mumbai (49) and in Gujarat (75) pertaining to extortion, kidnapping, ransom demand and murder threats.

Poojary also extorted huge amounts from popular Bollywood stars and realtors. He was also involved in an attempt to murder case, aimed at killing a prominent lawyer of Mumbai.

A four-member Karnataka police team led by Pandey brought the 52-year-old underworld don to Bengaluru from Dakar in Senegal via Paris in an Air France scheduled flight during the wee hours and kept him at an interrogation centre in the city's south-east suburb.

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News Network
June 26,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 26: Karnataka's Commercial Taxes Department has sealed off an undeclared warehouse with imported goods worth Rs 4 crore in Bengaluru and found 60 GST registrations linked to a Chinese national from Wuhan.

The tax department officials found 25,446 China-made electronic and fast-moving consumer goods worth Rs 4 crore stored in the warehouse which was not declared to the tax authorities.

Commissioner of Commercial Taxes MS Srikar said in a statement that the officers noticed that one person from Wuhan City, China, got the premises in Bengaluru on lease.

They also found that about 60 registrations (both central and state jurisdictions) under the GST Act, in the name of a number of persons for online trading of imported China-made goods, had a single address which was vacant.

Most of the registrations were found irregular in the filing of returns and payment of tax. Majority of the firms either filed nil returns or were non-filers. The registration data showed that one business was registered in 2017-18, 43 in 2018-19, 14 in 2019-20 and two in 2020-21. Most of the 60 firms were private limited companies and 24 persons were interchangeably directors in 58 firms.

At the time of raid, neither the lessee, the Chinese national, nor any of the other 59 registered taxable persons were available at the business premises and no one came forward to participate in the proceedings in spite of providing sufficient time.

It is learnt that the Chinese national is operating the business from Wuhan City since January 2020 with the assistance of some of his agents/employees in Bengaluru.

It has also been learnt that multiple registrations are being taken for a better rating on e-commerce platforms, Srikar said.

The raids were led by Nitesh K Patil, Additional Commissioner, Enforcement, South Zone.
The Commercial Taxes Department is closely watching the genuineness of newly registered persons and conducting post-registration verification visits.

Any registration taken with mala fide intention of evading taxes will be dealt with seriously, the Commissioner said. 

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