Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner V. Shankar, who shot to fame for cracking excise permit violations by social clubs in the city, has been a busy man. This time, he has taken up cudgels against illegal constructions on dried-up lake-beds. In the last couple of weeks, thanks to his current fetish, the city witnessed a huge demolition drive on encroachments on lake-beds in Banaswadi, Sarakki and Kacharakanahalli among others. Armed with the orders of the Supreme Court and the Karnataka High Court, Mr. Shankar even served notices on residents who built houses in layouts developed by the Bangalore Development Authority. (It is another matter that this government agency had in the first place developed these layouts encroaching lake-beds.) When a public outrage broke out against the demolition of housing complexes, Mr. Shankar was summoned by several Ministers who sought from him updates on the drive in their respective constituencies and on court directives. Anguished residents who lost their dwellings rushed to the State Secretariat, to homes and offices of political leaders seeking to end the demolition drive.
The Deputy Commissioner has now earned the nickname ‘Demolition Shankar’.
Who’s the boss
in Hassan?
Whenever people approach Hassan Deputy Commissioner Umesh H. Kusugal with specific pleas, the common reply they get is: “Come through the ADC” (Additional Deputy Commissioner). Recently, Dandora Somu, Hassan city president of Madiga Dandora Horata Samiti, met the Deputy Commissioner with a request to regularise the services of five municipal workers. The demand is said to have been pending for many years. The samiti claimed that the workers had served the civic body for over 25 years. They had also planned a protest by pouring filth on themselves to exert pressure. “When I appealed to Mr. Kusugal to regularise the services, he asked me to submit a memorandum to the ADC,” Mr. Somu said. This is not the first instance. During the Kannada Sahitya Sammelan, which was held in February at Shravanabelagola, the Deputy Commissioner, who chaired the sammelan finance committee, had parroted the same phrase. One wonders which officer actually holds the reins in Hassan district.
Varsities await VCs
All eyes are now on the Raj Bhavan. It’s the time for Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, who is the Chancellor of all State universities, to appoint full-time Vice-Chancellors to six varsities. The universities have been headless for almost half a year and for various reasons – retirement, suspension or end of tenure. The long vacancies have hindered the functioning of these centres of learning. Acting VCs are running the show but their powers are limited.
In particular, Karnatak University (KU), Dharwad, and Belagavi’s Rani Channamma University (RCU) have been dogged by controversies. The KU post fell vacant on October 23 after Vice-Chancellor H.B. Walikar was arrested by the Lokayukta police on charges of corruption and placed under suspension. At RCU, after a four-year term as VC, B.R. Ananthan faces a fresh inquiry for claiming travel and dearness allowances twice for a trip to New Delhi.
There is no dearth of right people who can don the mantle but that can happen only if the government and the University Grants Commission get their act together.
Muniyappa in the dock
Recently, activists of the Permanent Irrigation Struggle Committee questioned the seriousness of K.H. Muniyappa, former Union Minister and seven-time Congress MP for Kolar, in getting irrigation projects implemented in arid Kolar and Chickballapur districts. The activists, who have been agitating for water for the last decade, lambasted the MP for not doing it in spite of his long tenure in Parliament and Central Ministry.
The trigger for the latest scathing attack on Mr. Muniyappa is that instead of leading an initiative, he asked Public Works Department Minister H.S. Mahadevappa, who is a close aide of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, to use his clout to push the matter. “You are very close to Mr. Siddaramaiah. You should influence him to implement the water projects,” Mr. Muniyappa said at a forum.
The ‘water warriors’ accused the MP of shirking his responsibility and dropping the promises he had made before elections last year. Activist V. Geetha dared the MP to spell out his role if he needed another leader’s help to convince the Chief Minister about the project. “This is a diversionary tactic and [Mr. Muniyappa is] running away from his responsibility,” she said, while questioning his contribution to the constituency.
Mr. Muniyappa appeared unfazed by all the criticism. All he could say in self-defence was that he had only asked Mr. Mahadevappa to use his clout in the government to fast-track the water projects.
Nagesh Prabhu,
Sathish G.T.,
Vijaykumar Patil, and Vishwa Kundapura
