'Fake' TA?bills: Council Chairman issues notice to eight Karnataka MLCs

June 2, 2017

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Legislative Council chairman D H Shankaramurthy has served notices to eight MLCs, including six belonging to the Congress, in connection with charges that they claimed about Rs 17 lakh as travel allowance (TA) by reportedly submitting fake bills.dh

The chairman has given time to the MLCs till June 3 to explain their stand on the charges. BJP leader in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Padmanabha Reddy had recently complained to the Chairman and urged him to disqualify these members.

The notice has been issued to Allum Veerabhadrappa, Raghu Achar, N S Boseraju, S Ravi, R B Thimmapura (all Congress), C R Manohar and Appaji Gouda (both JD-S) and M D Lakshminarayana (Independent).

The ruling Congress has cried foul and accused the chairman of trying to scuttle its plan to move a no-confidence motion against him. But Shankaramurthy denied the Congress' charges. “I received the complaint on May 24. The notice was issued on May 26 and the Congress members submitted a notice seeking to move the no-confidence motion on May 31. So my issuing the notice has nothing to do with the no-confidence motion. I am only following the rule of natural justice by seeking their explanation.”

The Congress, which is the single largest party in the Upper House, has decided to oust Shankaramurthy and install its own person as the Chairman. The party has 35 MLCs, including three associate members, in the 75-member House. The party is short of only three members to prove a majority, and is hopeful of getting the JD(S) support. Shankaramurthy is only trying to scare off the Congress from going ahead with the no-confidence motion by threatening to disqualify some of its members, sources in the Council secretariat said.

Padmanabha Reddy had in his complaint said that the eight MLCs had voted in the Bengaluru mayoral elections claiming that they were residents of Bengaluru. However, these MLCs have reportedly drawn close to Rs 17 lakh as the travel allowance from the Council secretariat claiming that they reside in various towns outside Bengaluru. He had also demanded criminal action against these MLCs.

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January 10,2020

Tumkur, Jan 10: A five-year-old boy has been killed by a leopard in Gubi taluk of Tumkuru district in Karnataka.

The local police said today that the incident took place on Thursday evening when the boy was returning home along with his grandmother.

The leopard first attacked a cow and then the boy who was behind it. The feline dragged the body into the forest.

After a search operation by the forest officials, the body was found and handed over to the parents after post-mortem.

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January 22,2020

Kochi, Jan 22: Rail passengers from Kerala are a happy lot as the state’s traditional food items such as appam and eggcurry, puttu and kadala curry have found their way back to the revised menu of the Railways in the wake of protests over reports that they were replaced by north indian delicacies.

The popular Kerala dishes were reinstated to the list following social media backlash over the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation’s reported decision to replace the favorite cuisine of Malayalis from its menu with north Indian dishes such as Kachori and Chole Bhature.

Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden, who had shot off a letter to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal raising the issue of alleged discrimination against Keralites, got an assurance from the IRCTC officials that popular items, including snacks such as unniyappam and sukhiyan will be served through its outlets in the state.

Eden said the IRCTC officials who visited him at his home on Wednesday morning have presented him with the list of delicacies to be served by its local vendors in Kerala. In his letter to the minister, the MP had stated that dishes which are very important to Malayalis for breakfast such as appam, egg curry, porotta, dosa, steam cake (puttu) were excluded along with snacks such as banana fry (pazham pori), kozhukkatta, unniyappam, neyyappam and sukhiyan.  He had also raised the issue of hike in price of food items.

According to him, price of meals has been increased from RS 35 to 70 and that ofsnacks such as vada from Rs 8 to 15.  While the price of vada has not been reduced, the fare of snack meal like parotta, chappathi, idiyappam, appam and puttu with kadala curry or egg curry will be served at Rs 50.  According to IRCTC, a passenger will have to shell out Rs 20 for unniyappam/sukhiyan/neyyappam, 2 numbers each.  Informing Goyal of the changes in menu, he said Malayalis are discriminated in trains and railway refreshment rooms by the food which is the right of every passenger.

He had sought urgent intervention of the Minister and speedy action in the matter.

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March 21,2020

Hubbali, Mar 21: South Western Railway suspended an employee on Thursday, for allegedly hiding her son's travel history who returned from Spain. The employee's son has now been kept under isolation.

Earlier it was reported that the man had a travel history of Italy- among the worst affected countries by Coronavirus.

He was working in Germany and had taken a flight from Spain to return to India.

In an order issued by General Manager of South Western Railway, the employee was further asked to leave the headquarter without obtaining permission from the competent authority.

The suspended Railway Officer is posted in Bengaluru.
According to the official data, the total number of Covid-19 cases in India has risen to 206, according to ICMR. Timely diagnosis and isolation have been considered vital to check the spread of the deadly disease.

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