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Muneer Katipalla smells large-scale irregularities in MCC’s UGD upgradation project

coastaldigest.com news network
February 14, 2018

Mangaluru, Feb 14: Muneer Katipalla, who is all set to contest upcoming assembly polls from Mangaluru City North constituency as a CPI-M candidate, has made a serious allegation of large-scale irregularities in awarding contract for Sewage Pumping Main Repair and Replacement Project of Mangaluru City Corporation.

In a letter to the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary, Mr Katipalla, who is also Karnataka state unit president of DYFI, claimed that two companies have secured tender for the project with tacit understanding wherein the estimated cost has shot up from Rs. 60 crore to Rs. 94 crore. The government should scrap the tender and order high-level probe into pilferage of public money, he said.

He noted that the MCC through Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation has undertaken the project of upgrading the UGD infrastructure of Mangaluru. Repair and replacement of the sewage pumping main is one of the key components of the project. On the face of it, large-scale financial irregularities are visible while finalising tenders for sewage pumping repair and replacement.

Mr. Katipalla said KUIDFC had estimated Rs. 60 crore for the project initially. However, it added Rs. 8 crore for manhole repairs, Rs. 5 crore road repair etc., though all these were part of original Rs. 60 crore estimate.

The total project cost escalated to Rs. 94 crore during the tender process, which is in excess of 60% of the original estimate. Two companies which participated in the tender obtained the contract jointly even as the empowered committee approved all the changes without any objection.

Suspecting corruption, Mr. Katipalla said such irregularities cannot happen without the involvement of KUIDFC officials and knowledge of people's representatives. Mangaluru South MLA J.R. Lobo, who was earlier MCC Commissioner and is in the know of the process as well as Mangaluru North MLA B.A. Mohiuddin Bava, with their silence appear to be backing the irregularities, Mr. Katipalla alleged.

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coastaldigest.com news network
April 23,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 23: An elderly woman who was tested positive for COVID-19 in Dakshina Kannada district today breathed her last.

The deceased is a 77-year-old woman from Bantwal taluk. 

She is said to be a close relative of the Bantwal woman who died of COVID-19 on April 19.

She was shifted to govt Wenlock Hospital which is now converted into COVID-19 hospital on April 22 from a private hospital.

Her throat swabs were sent for testing. Health and family welfare department earlier today confirmed that she was tested positive for coronavirus.

Within hours she breathed her last without responding to any treatment. 

So far 17 corona positive cases have been confirmed in the district including two deaths. Most of them have returned home after recovering.

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 4,2020

Davanagere, Jul 4: Referring to allegations made by former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's charge about corruption while purchasing COVID-19 equipment, Health Minister B Sriramulu said the state government is ready for any kind of probe in this regard.

Speaking to media persons here on Saturday, he said the government has maintained accounts for each purchase of equipment related to Covid-19. 

"So, Congress leader's allegations are far from the truth. Siddaramaiah has vast political experience. It is unbecoming of such a leader to make ridiculous allegations. The government is ready to release white paper on purchase of equipment related to Covid-19," he said.

He said Karnataka stands third in the country in collection of throat swabs and examination of people related to Covid-19. The entire country has hailed Karnataka's role in containing Covid-19, Sriramulu he added.

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News Network
July 31,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 31: The Karnataka government on Wednesday put on hold a controversial proposal to drop certain chapters, including on Islam, Christianity, Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali, from social science textbooks to reduce the 2020-21 syllabi for students in classes 1-10.

Citing the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption caused to the academic calendar of the year, the government had earlier dropped the chapter on Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali from the Class 7 social science textbook, saying chapters on Tipu Sultan have been retained in the Class 6 and 10 textbooks.

The move did not go down well with the opposition, which saw certain ulterior motives behind the decision.

Apparently under sharp criticism, the Department of Public Instruction issued a new notification on Wednesday "on the directions of the Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar".

There is a delay in opening the schools during the academic year 2020-21 due to COVID-19 pandemic, said the latest order.

In this context, the order said, chapters were dropped to fit in 120 days of the academic year for classes 1 to 10 and the same was published in the department's website.

"However, on the directions of the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, the decision to drop certain chapters has been put on hold. A review will be done following which the deleted chapters will be uploaded in the website," the order read.

Earlier in the day, Mr Kumar had issued a statement, saying that the decision to truncate the syllabus has not been finalised yet. He also made it clear that his department would not remove chapters unnecessarily.

Former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah had attacked the government on the issue.

"The government, which has failed to control the spread of coronavirus, is using it as an opportunity to push its clandestine agenda of saffronising the textbooks," Siddaramaiah tweeted.

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