‘No effort has been made to recover such land in the last one year’
Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has alleged in the Legislative Assembly that government land, including lakebeds especially in Bangalore, worth over Rs. 2 lakh crore has been encroached upon and no effort has made to recover it in the last one year.
Participating in a debate on the issue on Monday, Mr. Kumaraswamy criticised Minor Irrigation Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi for introducing the Karnataka Tank Development Authority Bill, 2014 for the restoration of village tanks. S.T. Somashekar of the Congress and K.G. Bopaiah of the BJP wanted a debate on the destruction of lakes in the city.
K.R. Ramesh Kumar of the Congress informed the House that he was not allowed to raise the issue in the Congress legislature party meeting and he had written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to table a Bill to protect the lakes. Mr. Kumar said that he had spoken to Mr. Tangadagi 10 times and since the subject was not discussed, he raised it in the House.
But, BJP member Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri reminded Mr. Kumar about his advise to the then Janata Dal (Secular) members when he was the Speaker that normally the treasury benches should allow the Opposition to speak and they should seldom speak.
(The Hindu)
