Udupi, Mar 27: Congress leader B Janardhan Poojary has continued to exert pressure on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to drop the proposal to set up an Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the Yettinahole diversion project.
Speaking to media persons, the former Union minister said the chief minister's hasty decision to set up an ACB will cost the government in terms of support from the public. He said that by setting up the bureau, the chief minister would weaken the Lokayukta institution. “A person who is charged under some crime will be probed by two separate institutions by filing cases in both in ACB?and Lokayukta.
Setting up of two separate institutions to investigate a single case is not permitted by the Constitution and it has been clearly mentioned in the Article 20,” he insisted.
He accused the chief minister of intending to hand over cases pertaining to his government and officials to the newly created investigation agency, the ACB.
Mr Poojary said that the government should give up the Yettinahole project as it would not only create a host of environmental problems but also lead to chronic water shortage in Dakshina Kannada district.
He said the Uppinangady region in Dakshina Kannada was prone to water shortages during summer. The Yettinahole project would only worsen the problem there. The river diversion project would not only affect people but also the fragile biodiversity of the Western Ghats.
Mr. Poojary said it was a tragedy that all ministers, parliamentarians and legislators of all parties of the Coastal districts were backing the Yettinahole project despite knowing it was disastrous to these districts. “In fact, it is their duty to save the Netravati River, which is the lifeline of the Coastal districts,” he said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should undertake a tour of the regions from Gundia to Kumaradhara and listen to the opinion of the people. This would give him a first-hand knowledge of the problems faced by the people in Belthangady region of Dakshina Kannada due to the Yettinahole project, he said.

The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
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Mr. Poojary an elderly congress man ,, no job now .just giving Un important statements
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