Deccan Herald: Bangalore:
Friday, January 31, 2014.
JD(S) floor
leader in the Legislative Assembly H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday alleged that
there was lack of transparency in the functioning of the government, and
accused the ruling dispensation of failing to protect the interests of the
common man.
Participating
in the discussion on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the
Assembly, Kumaraswamy gave specific instances to substantiate his allegations.
He said that
in October 2013, in his capacity as the Leader of the Opposition, he had sought
information on the export of minerals by various mining companies from the
government. However, he did not get any response, following which he sought the
information under the RTI. “I received a reply but several pages in the
document were missing,” he said.
‘Turning a
blind eye’;
Kumaraswamy
accused the government of turning a blind eye to the irregularities in the
revenue department. “Revenue department officials are seeking a share in land
when farmers approach them for khata registration,” he charged.
In one
instance, when a dalit farmer sought a khata for his four-acre land in
K R Puram, officials registered the land in the name of a developer. In another
instance, Kumaraswamy said, a panchayat member in Kanakapura had pocketed Rs 50
lakh claiming it had been allotted for developmental work. When an RTI activist
tried to expose the scam, he started getting life-threatening calls,
Kumaraswamy said.
In his reply,
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah asked Kumaraswamy to submit to relevant documents,
if any, for him to take action against the erring officials.
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