Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE LOW OF HIGH COMMAND BJP HIGH COMMAND- NEITHER HIGH NOR COMMANDING….

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter

 

THE LOW OF HIGH COMMAND        

BJP HIGH COMMAND- NEITHER HIGH NOR COMMANDING….

The BJP High command has proved time and again that it is neither high nor commanding vis-a-vis B.S.Yeddyurappa. There is nobody in the High Command to bring discipline in BJP particularly in the Karnataka unit. 

 The decline of High Command’s hold over the first ever BJP government in the South India started the moment Yedurappa became the Chief Minister in 2008. With three short of a simple majority, Yedurappa allegedly through money and muscle procured the support of six independents to become the CM. He then launched Operation Kamala to target the MLAs of Congress and JD(S) and purchased them. They were made to resign their seats and join BJP and made ministers or chairman of fertile Boards/Corporations and were also fielded as BJP candidates in the by-elections. About 20 by-election were held because of Operation Kamala. 

 Had the BJP High Command put its foot down firmly on this rotten ‘Operation Kamala’, things would have been different. If Yedurappa was asked to function with the simple majority, he would have ruled the state with caution. But the High command never imagined the future. So, once Yedurappa got more than 120 seats through elections and Operation Kamala, he was a changed man. He became a virtual dictator and the rest is history. In 2009, the Reddy Brothers revolted against Yedurappa with about 45 MLAs in their camp. The High Command dithered and was not able to find a solution to the crisis. Finally, Sushma Swaraj, the Godmother of Reddy Brothers was roped in and a truce was affected after 15 days of uncertainty. 

 In 2010, another rebellion hit Yedurappa hard. Twenty MLAs including five independents withdrew their support to him and the resort politics reached a new low. However, Yedurappa too stooped to a new low and got 15 MLAs disqualified through Speaker Bopaiah just hours before the confidence vote was to take place. Further, he misused the machinery and allowed the police to enter the Assembly hall. In fact, the then police commissioner Shankar Bidari stood guard at the entrance door! 

 His family had by then succeeded to keep him under their octopus like grip and they floated firms, trusts etc. and started making crores and crores through his power abuse. 

 Then started Kumaraswamy’s tirade against Yedurappa. Kumaraswamy started exposing one scam after another with documentary evidences against Yedurappa his family and ministers. Yedurappa started counter attack on him and his family. Politics reached a new low with cases and counter cases filed against each other. Even then, the BJP High Command turned a Nelson’s eye to the developments perhaps fearing that Yedurappa might topple his own government in case he was asked to step down. Finally, the Lokayukta report on mining forced the High Command to ask him to resign and he was replaced by D.V.Sadananda Gowda who was his personal choice. 

 However, after the High Court quashed the FIR against Yedurappa in the mining scam, Yedurappa wanted Sadananda to resign to make way for him to become the CM again. But Sadananda stated that only at the High Command’s instruction, he will hand over the power to Yedurappa. 

 Since then Yedurappa has been making efforts to dethrone Sadananda and occupy the CM chair. He even tried to kill the Sadananda government during the budget session by taking away about 45 MLAs to a resort and boycotting the presentation of the budget. However, at the eleventh hour, he dropped the ‘revolt’. 

 The BJP High Command never lifted its fingers when Yedurappa was openly indulging in anti party activities. They kept assuring him of suitable position after the SC Order on the CBI probe into his scams which was expected in the first week of May and kept rejecting his demand of CM post. Finally, the Supreme Court ordered the CBI probe into donation and denotification scam of Yedurappa and his family and that sealed the chances of Yedurappa getting any suitable post let alone CM post. 

 Since then Yedurappa is restless. He called his loyal Ministers and obtained their resignation and later MLAs loyal to him were made to submit their resignations. Armed with this, Yedurappa challenged the Sadananda government and the High Command. He opened a parallel office. He has accused everybody in the BJP High Command including L.K.Advani and has targeted choicest abuses against Ananth Kumar, K.S.Eswarappa and Sadananda. 

 And the High Command is not even in a position to take action. If any other leader had uttered these abuses, the next moment, the leader would have been expelled. But the High Command is not taking or even contemplating action. The CBI raid was a setback to Yedurappa. True, the High Command wants Yedurappa to get out of the party on his own while Yedurappa wants the High Command to expel him so that he could gain some sympathy votes. 

 Whatsoever, the High command has lost much of its command and control vis-a-vis Yedurappa. And that is all.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE FINAL ENTRAPMENT CBI RAIDS YEDURAPPA AND COMPANY, FUTURE GLOOMY

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter

 

THE FINAL ENTRAPMENT  

CBI RAIDS YEDURAPPA AND COMPANY, FUTURE GLOOMY!

B.S Yeddyurappa the former Chief Minister received the shock of his life when the CBI raided him along with his kith and kin after registering cases against them under the directions of the Supreme court. The raids has shocked not only Yedurappa family but his ‘loyal’ supporters as well. With the CBI raid, Yedurappa’s attempts at reclaiming the CM post have been dashed. The CBI raids which had netted many incriminating documents may also result in IT cases filed against Yedurappa family. More than this, Yedurappa may also face Disproportionate Assets case as a consequence of the findings in the CBI raid.... 

Yedurappa’s bravados tantrums and devil-may-care attitude, his outbursts etc. have suddenly vanished, the moment the CBI stepped into his house. His over confidence has become a thing of the past. Gone are the days when he used to challenge everybody from the opposition leaders to the leaders of his own party. Even after many of his scams hit the headlines, Yedurappa tried to defend his actions on the pretext that previous CMs too have done similar scams. He never felt remorse at every exposure. 

 The Lokayukta report on the Mining scam was the final nail in Yedurappa’s coffin. He was forced to resign on the promise that once he is cleared of Lokayukta charges, he will be reinstated as the CM. 

 Interestingly, when the HC quashed the FIR against Yedurappa, he started staking his claim to the CM post. With around 40 MLAs including eight ministers he started dissident activities to become the CM again. He even made efforts to float a regional party if he was not made the CM. In the last four months, Yedurappa had made four attempts to remove the CM Sadananda and become the CM. But the BJP High Command was not in favour of making him the CM again. 

 Of course, there are many more criminal cases against Yedurappa and family, filed by the advocates from Shimoga and they are under various stages. More than anything else, the Supreme Court had directed the Central Empowered Committee to submit a report on the illegal mining and the donation scam of Yedurappa and his family, on a petition by S.R.Hiremath who is leading a NGO. The CEC has recommended probe by CBI or any other high level probe. Finally, the SC had ordered the CBI investigation into Yedurappa and Family’s donation and denotification scam. 

 The CBI acting on the directions of the SC, filed a FIR against Yedurappa, his family members and others involved. Nobody expected the CBI to act swiftly and raid Yedurappa, his family and others, within hours of the FIR. The CBI raid has taken out the steam in Yedurappa’s fight for CM post. 

 True, nobody could predict the style of CBI probe as it varies from case to case. Yedurappa and his family now fear arrest and as such they have moved for anticipatory bail. As the CBI is investigating the scam under the supervision of the SC, the chances of getting anticipatory bail are remote. Once the CBI arrests the accused, it will be testing time for Yedurappa and company. Once in CBI custody, Yedurappa cannot hope to get bail easily. It may take months on end. Janardhana Reddy, who was arrested by the CBI in September last for his involvement in mining scam in AP, got the bail after eight months and he is in Jail in connection with the Mining scam in Karnataka and it may be months before Janardhana Reddy walks out of the Jail on bail. This applies to Yedurappa also. 

 Even to this day, Yedurappa has not admitted, even off record, his guilt in the scams despite the tell tale evidences. But the CBI investigations will definitely nail him to the post. As on now, Yedurappa is talking of co-operation to the CBI. But this is easier said than done. Moreover, as a fall out of CBI raid which had resulted in getting hold of unaccounted properties, shares etc. one can be sure of Yedurappa getting involved in Income Tax case also. And one may expect the CBI moving against him for amazing property disproportionate to his known source of income. 

Whatsoever, the fact is that Yedurappa is in serious trouble which will affect his political future too. It is no secret that CBI investigations against powerful politicians have resulted in those powerful politicians fading away from public life. And Yedurappa is no exception and he has to blame himself for the predicament. 

That is all.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter LICENSE PLEASE NEELAKANTAPPA & GANG RUNS BOGUS ASSOCIATION, MINT MONEY

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter

 

LICENSE PLEASE  

NEELAKANTAPPA & GANG RUNS BOGUS ASSOCIATION, 

MINT MONEY

BANGALORE AIRPORT KSTDC TAXI DRIVERS’ WELFARE ASSOCIATION IS ILLEGAL.

Shaken by the total and detailed exposure of their day light robbery in ‘The Bangalore Metro Reporter’ News Paper, the Neelakantappa gang tried to stage manage the General Body meeting of the Association on 25th of May. The gang is also stage managing the audit of its accounts and the hard fact is that Neelakantappa gang is operating the Association which does not have any legal sanctity. Their ‘Bangalore Airport KSTDC Taxi Drivers Welfare Association’ is a bogus one and unregistered! How could the KSTDC, a government undertaking recognise this Association and what more abdicating some of its official powers to this bogus Association? 

Wonder of wonders, the Bangalore Airport KSTDC Taxi Drivers Welfare Association which suffixes ‘Registered’ to its name, is taking everybody for a ride as the same is not registered with any government authority. For the last several years, this ‘set up’ Association has not conducted General Body Meetings, audit of accounts let alone elections! At the same time it has collected lakhs of rupees from the helpless owners cum taxi drivers. Even now, the Association is collecting call centre charges on its receipts. At every stage, the Taxi drivers are harassed and squeezed. 

 Neelakantappa gang and even the KSTDC use the name ‘Bangalore Airport KSTDC Taxi Drivers Welfare Association’. The KSTDC has recognised this Association in this name and even the receipts, Letter heads of the Association sports this name. Neelakantappa gang has collected Rs.16500/- from each cab owners cum drivers as membership fee. And till to day there are no official documents to prove the credentials of anybody as a Member of the Association! 

 And the hard fact is that there is no association by name ‘Bangalore Airport KSTDC Taxi Drivers Welfare Association’ registered either with the Registrar of Societies or the Labour Commissioner. ‘The Bangalore Metro Reporter’ had made enquiries about the real status of this Association and the result is that this Association is not registered. How could Neelakantappa gang suppress this ‘all important’ fact from the government and the taxi drivers? 

 It is another matter that many of the Executive Committee members and even office bearers have tried to ascertain about the bonafides of this Association. Interestingly, the letter head, receipts application forms etc. printed by this association carry ‘Registered’ but not the registration number and the year of the registration which is a must for any registered society or Association! Putting the ‘Registered’ word after the name of the Association without actually being registered is not only cheating but a criminal offence as well. Till today, nobody except Neelakantappa and Siddaiah knew about the real facts. 

 One has to appreciate Neelakantappa gang for fooling the members, the KSTDC, the government and the general public. 

 What more, Neelakantappa gang has not bothered to hold general body and elections to this Association from the beginning. Only now, after our exposures and subsequent stories in other newspapers Neelakantappa is exposed for what he is. The Neelakantappa gang is hard pressed to explain their actions, nay their omissions and commissions. Moreover, the Taxi drivers have come to know the real facts after our exposure and as such have become restive. Sensing trouble for them in the long run if the law of the land is allowed to take its course, the Neelakantappa gang held a stage managed general body meeting and they are also getting the accounts audited (?). This was the first time the gang was going before the members (?) and defend their misuse, misappropriation et al. 

 Interestingly, to prevent more members attending the General body meeting and force the gang out of their posts, the gang purposely fixed 25th of May, for the general body meeting. The reason is simple. On 25th May, Meru cabs were scheduled to go in for a colour change and therefore many of its cabs will be out of action. The Easy Cab which has lost the licence is taking away its fleet. This makes the KSTDC Taxies getting more demand and there will a few members who would skip their duties to attend the General body. This could enable the gang to have their say and continue with their loot. 

 Curiously, the Neelakantappa gang issued ID cards and members had to visit the Association’s unauthorised office in Madhuvan Lodge to get the ID. Shockingly, the gang did not give notice about the general body meeting to the members. All they did was display a notice in the KSTDC counter at BIAL about the general body meeting. This is highly illegal as the rules stipulate that every member should be given the notice through post and that too 15 days in advance along with the audit report and the agenda. Tomorrow any member can question these serious lapses and can even get the general body postponed through courts of law. 

 Interestingly, the venue selected was Kannada Sahitya Parishat’s auditorium in Chamarajpet. The auditorium is very small and cannot accommodate more than 100 people while the Association has more than 600 members. Moreover, had the venue be fixed at Yelahanka - Devanahalli route, more members could have attended the meeting. It is another matter that most of the members do not know about the general body meeting itself as not even a single notice was sent by the gang to the members. Infact, the gang has just started issuing the ID to the members and nobody knows the exact number of members of this unauthorised association! 

 But, finally, expecting a backlash, Neelakantappa, Chickmath and their gang, having called a meeting gang kept away themselves from the meeting. More than 130 members of the association had gathered for attending the meeting and they went ahead with the meeting themselves in the absence of Neelakantappa and gang. 

 Interestingly, this unauthorised association functions from unauthorised place other than the address shown in its letter heads - receipts etc. This Association displays its address as ‘-1418, AECS Layout, E Block, Kundalahalli, Opp. Brookes Field, Bangalore-37’ but functions from a room in the Madhuvan Hotel. 

 One understands that there are laws governing the functions of the Association in the state. Is it too much to expect the law taking its own course in respect of the present bogus association? 

 The General Body Meeting of Bangalore Airport KSTDC Tax Drivers Welfare Association (Regd) was scheduled to be held on 25th of this month. The interesting fact about this Association is that it is not a registered one. As per the information provided by the Assistant Labour Commissioner, Division-3, there is no association registered under this name! 

But there is one more Association registered in the Labour Commissioner Office. The name of the Association so registered is “Bangalore Airport Pre Paid Taxi Drivers Welfare Association”, registered as No.ACL-3/DRT/TUA/CR-01/2002-03 dated 4.4.2002. 

Curiously, the addresses of both the Associations are one and the same, No.1418, AECS Layout, Opp. Brooke Field, E-Block, Kundalahalli Post, Bangalore - 560037. 

 One can suffix the word ‘Registered’ in case of the Prepaid Taxi Drivers Welfare Association. It is legal. But the same can not be the case with Taxi Drivers Welfare Association; it is not a registered Association. Moreover, Neelakantappa gang has collected millions of rupees from the Taxi Drivers on various pretexts and is now collecting ‘call centre’ charges from the drivers in the name of the bogus Association. All these are criminal offences. 

 It is time that government to act in this regard. And the Neelakantappa gang should clarify which is the original one they are operating! May be they are operating in the name bogus Association to avoid the legal consequences!

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter CORRUPTION IN KRIDL TALE OF EX MD, CK SHIVANNA

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter

 

CORRUPTION IN KRIDL 

TALE OF EX MD, CK SHIVANNA

C.K.Shivanna, the EX-MD of the KRIDL (Formerly Karnataka Land Army Corporation) had shown ingenious ways and means to indulge in corruption of the highest order. This IFS officer cared two hoots for the rules of the game and had introduced his own rules of game. One will be shocked at the quality and quantity of his corruption which one should see to believe. Shivanna, who boasted that he was the personal candidate of the CM Sadananda Gowda, had been looting since his stint from July last year and also refused to share the loot with Chairman Chikkana Goudar who resigned few months back ... 

 Few months back, Chikkana Goudar, a MLA who was the Chairman of the KRIDL (KLAC) had tendered his resignation. The reason - the Ex-MD of the KRIDL was not co-operating with him. The government till date has not accepted the resignation. In fact, Chikkana Goudar had called a press conference to announce his resignation from Chairman’s post and to accuse the Ex-MD C.K.Shivanna of slighting him. It is true that Shivanna had completely ignored the Chairman and functioned as if he is answerable to none on the pretext that he was the personal choice of the Chief Minister D.V.Sadananda Gowda. 

 There is more than that meets the eye in this episode. The feud between Chikkana Goudar and Shivanna was nothing to do with the functioning of the corporation. It was allegedly with regard to sharing of the kickbacks/commissions from purchases and works worth hundreds of crores. It is to be reminded that the previous MD A.K. Singh was honest but his honesty was misused by his subordinates. Once Shivanna took over as the MD, he introduced a percentage rule. He allegedly fixed 0.7 percent to be his share from the release of funds to various works in the Divisions and Sub Divisions. One can imagine the revenue of Shivanna by the fact that more than 640 crores were released by him to the various works. Shivanna got a flat Rs. 4.50 crore from the release of funds, alone! Allegedly, while he had fixed 0.7 percentage for himself, he had fixed 0.3 percentage to the chairman Chikkana Goudar. 

How one could accept this low commission and that too when the Chairman enjoys cabinet minister status? In most of the Boards/Corporations, the Chairman will have more ‘income’ than the MDs or the CEOs. But in case of the KRIDL, the opposite has happened. The Chairman insisted that he be given 0.7 percent while Shivanna can have 0.3 percentage! And this allegedly was the crux of the feud between Chairman and MD. Besides, the Ex-MD deliberately ignored to implement many of the directions from the Chairman. Feeling frustrated the Chairman submitted his resignation accusing the Ex-MD of non co-operation. The government is yet to accept the resignation. 

 Ever since Shivanna stepped in as MD in July last year, not a single work was entrusted to the Corporation during his regime. All the works being executed by the Corporation was procured by the previous MD A.K.Singh through sustained efforts. Being honest to the core, Singh was able to procure works worth 850 crores. And these are the works where Shivanna is said to have made money. Before AK Singh left the corporation, he had released around 200 crores and while releasing the funds, he was not even prepared to take a cup of coffee. And Shivanna had released the remaining 640 crores and allegedly pocketed 0.7 percent kickback. He was busy in making money through every conceivable ways. 

 For example, while fixing the rates for purchase of cement and steel, there was pro rata commission for him. Shivanna had to be paid at the rate of Rs. one per kg, for purchase of steel. Similarly, every bag of cement fetched him Rs.5. In fact, Rangarajan, one of the three GM was dealing and fixing the prices from his residence and lap top. He too got his share. As a result of the big kickbacks, the cost of steel became prohibitive so much so that the price of local steel with good quality was less than the procurement price. The ADs - DDs wanted purchasing power for steel and cement at their level itself so that they could procure better quality of steel and cement at much lower rate than the rates fixed by Shivanna and Rangarajan. 

 This apart, Shivanna allegedly got ‘Quarterly Mamool’ from the DDs and ADs through the six JDs. The JDs had to collect the monthly mamool from their jurisdictional ADs and DDs respectively. This collection which reached Rs 50 lakh was supposed to be collected by Shivanna.

SHIVANNA APPLIED DIFFERENT YARDSTICKS TO 

DIFFERENT PLAYERS DEPENDING ON THE ‘PURSE’. 

 Take the case of Kishore, an AD who was trapped by the Lokayukta in Shimoga. Later he was made in charge DD in Mandya! As Shivanna could not get as much he wanted, he simply posted him as DD (Tech) in JD Bangalore. The reason - Kishore was trapped by the Lokayukta. 

While this is the treatment meted out to Kishore on the Lokayukta excuse, Shivanna applied an entirely different yardstick in the case of K.R.Ramesh. He was deputed in the BBMP while he was trapped by the Lokayukta. He was repatriated to the Corporation, but, he was again posted to BBMP. After getting a hefty donation, Shivanna posted him as AD, Bangalore Rural, which is a fertile post. In the case of KR Ramesh, Shivanna simply ignored the Lokayukta trap! Interestingly, KR Ramesh is a diploma holder in automobiles and as such he should have been made to work in vehicle maintenance section. 

The case of Mobeen, a TFC is more interesting. He too was raided by the Lokayukta in Gulbarga. Shivanna after extracting his pound of flesh made Mobeen in charge AD in Raichur by opening another Sub Division, Raichur-II to accommodate him. Later Shivanna suspended the AD of Raichur-I Sub Division and gave the charge of this post to Mobeen! Interestingly, Mobeen did not have the seniority to be eligible to get in charge AD post as there were 38 TFCs who were senior to him! 

 Of course, Shivanna used the services of an AD B.H.Gurumurthy in all his collection business. 

 Gurumurthy was in BBMP, when the Chairman shifted him to Karwar as AD. But Shivanna brought him back to Bangalore so that he could act as his legman. For some time Shivanna used the services of Gurumurthy and then left him. 

 While Shivanna adopted double standards in respect of ‘Lokayukta guests’ depending on the payments, Shivanna practiced some sort of arm twisting in respect of few officials. Take the case of K.Appaji, who was the DD of Chamarajanagar. This DD is not in the habit of attending the office for at least 25 days in a month. He is known as ‘absentee DD! Shivanna, who knew the tantrums of Appaji went on Inspection tour to Chamarajanagar. Later he shifted Appaji to the Mysore JD office as DD (Tech). But Appaji was not prepared to work in a dry post. So, he allegedly clinched a big deal with Shivanna. What Shivanna did after clinching the deal with Appaji baffles everybody. Mercara Division was closed and shifted to Mangalore by Shivanna. Now after the deal, Shivanna restarted the Mercara Branch and posted Appaji to this division. This implies that if there is sufficient ‘returns’, Shivanna would not mind closing or opening a Sub Division or a division. These incidents speak volumes about the ‘quality of administration by people like Shivanna! 

 H. S. SIDDALINGAIAH CASE 

 

SUPERFAST ACTION BY SHIVANNA 

 H.S.Siddalingaiah was an Accounts Superintendent in Mysore JD office. He had not passed the prescribed Departmental exams for getting the next promotion as Audit Officer. Through his deft manipulation, he was able to get the in charge Audit Officer post. He had filed a Writ in the High Court for a direction to promotion as Audit Officer. But the High Court dismissed his petition stating that unless he passes the prescribed department examinations, he can not claim promotion. 

 Acting on the High Court Orders, the previous MD AK Singh reverted him back to Accounts Superintendent post by withdrawing all other previous orders. 

 And then H S.Siddalingaiah gave a petition to the Ex-MD Shivanna, requesting him to place him again as I/C Audit Officer. This petition was given on 7.4.2012, and shockingly, before the ink dried on the petition, Shivanna issued the orders by placing him as I/C Audit Officer! 

Any comments!

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter LAND IS MONEY Land denotifications is a Multi Crore scam. Exclusive probe necessary.

By Firoz.T.Totanawala  

The Bangalore Metro Reporter

LAND IS MONEY 

Land denotifications is a Multi Crore scam. Exclusive probe necessary. 

 The denotification, a multi crore business is pounding the state politico. As on now, three former Chief Ministers, few former and present ministers are queuing up before the Lokayukta Court to face trial for misuse and abuse of their positions. It is no secret that thousands of acres of lands were denotified in the last 20 years. Till 1995, the denotification was not a big business, it was not a profitable business also as the rewards were abysmally small. 

 It is only after the land boom in Bangalore that made the denotification, a big business. Denotification is not an illegal act, but, the way in which denotifications were done for money and political reasons, is questionable. Interestingly, the politicians in power who indulge in denotification are targeted while the officials who legalise their money making business have escaped unhurt. 

 Denotifications acquired gigantic proportions during SM Krishna’s regime and that too particularly in the Arkavathi Layout, Banashankari, Anjanapura and Visweswaraiah Layouts. Jayakar Jerome, the BDA Commissioner during the years 2000 to 2004, was the main architect of the denotifications. Between 1999 and 2004, the BDA has notified more than 18000 acres of land for the Layouts. More than anything else, the Arkavathi Layout was tom tomed as a Mega Project. By this time, the land value in and around Bangalore had skyrocketed. While the BDA used to award less than 10 lakh per acre the prevailing rates were more than 50 lakhs per acre. In some villages where lands were notified, the land rates were hovering around a crore per acre. 

 When this being the case, how one could expect the land owners to hand over their lands to the BDA for a pittance? They looked for other alternatives. The real estate was witnessing a boom and the big names in real estate were prepared to invest crores in Bangalore for their business. They started entering agreements with the land owners whose lands were notified. Later through their political and officials’ links got the lands denotified or deleted from the acquisitions. 

 In the beginning, the rates for denotifications were around 5 to 10 lakh per acre. Later it reached the level of share in the lands. Apart from the ‘politicians, the officials played havoc in the denotifications. Arguably, nobody can match the denotifications of SM Krishna regime. Then, in 2006, the JDS-BJP government under the CM ship of HDD’s son HD Kumaraswamy, came into being, but here too there was not much progress. Kumaraswamy too indulged in denotifications, under pressure from his brother and land developers. During his last day as CM, he allotted 89 acres of BDA lands to the most notorious Housing Society of a big fraud B.Krishna Bhat’ - Viswabharathi Housing Society. Interestingly, B.S.Yeddyurappa, the then Deputy CM also tried his hands at denotifications. 

Once Yedurappa became the Chief Minister in his own right, things began to change for the worst. In one particular case, his sons B.Y.Raghavendra, B.Y.Vijayendra along with son-in-law Sohan Kumar purchased 20 guntas each in Rachenahalli at Rs.20 lakh after getting the land denotified. Later they sold the land to steel cum mining company for 20 crores! And the steel company was shown official favour by Yedurappa. 

There are other similar cases of denotifications by Yedurappa whose ‘kickbacks’ found their way into the companies of his kith and kin. Yedurappa is therefore facing several criminal cases in this regard under Prevention of Corruption Act. The Home Minister R.Ashok, Housing Minister V.Somanna, Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani et al are facing similar cases. Already the Lokayukta police have filed a charge sheet against HD Kumaraswamy in one denotification case. There are few Congress leaders who too are facing denotification cases. The Lokayukta Judge has referred another complaint against SM Krishna, now the Foreign Minister to the Lokayukta police. Dharam Singh, a former CM too is facing a denotification case. The list of leaders who are and will be facing the denotification cases is endless. 

 Whatsoever, the time has come to take a decisive action over the denotification business which is not restricted to one party or one CM or one Minister. There should be an attempt to take action in this regard. 

 It is time; the government should form a three man commission headed by a retired HC Judge along with one serving or retired IAS officer of proven integrity and a prominent personality from the society as its members. The commission should have wide powers including prosecuting the guilty. An investigating cell headed by a top police officer with a representative of revenue legal and prosecution departments as members should be formed. 

 The Commission should probe each and every denotification cases since 1990, study the background and the reasons for denotification. If it is found that the denotification was justified, the case should be certified as such. Otherwise, the investigating cell should identify the politicians, officials and persons involved! Once this is done, prompt action should be initiated including prosecution. And those who were held guilty should be barred from holding any public office for at least 10 years. 

And that is all.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter CBI FOR YEDURAPPA Sc orders CBI Probe. Will it the end for Yedurappa?

By Firoz.T.Totanawala  

The Bangalore Metro Reporter

CBI FOR YEDURAPPA!

SC orders CBI Probe. Will it the end for Yedurappa?

Finally, the Supreme Court has referred the Yedurappa scams to the CBI for a probe by accepting the recommendations of the CEC. Now, the chances of Yedurappa regaining the CM post have become remote. The SC Order came at a time when Yedurappa and his loyalists were waging a final war to dethrone D.V.Sadananda Gowda from the CM throne. The Yedurappa group have demanded BJP legislature party meeting on the pretext of discussing the ‘damning letter’ by Sadananda and state BJP President K.S.Eswarappa against Yedurappa and half a dozen ministers loyal to him but it was to be converted into a no-confidence motion. And the SC has thrown cold water on the scheme for the present but in desperation, Yedurappa may even topple the government... 

 The Supreme Court Order directing the CBI to probe the donation and denotification scams of B.S.Yeddyurappa, ironically, has saved D.V.Sadananda Gowda’s CM chair. It may be recalled that Yedurappa group had started all out war against Sadananda after the ‘leak’ of the joint letter by Sadananda and K.S.Eswarappa to the National BJP President Nitin Gadkari, wherein the duo have made serious charges of anti party activities against Yedurappa and six ministers loyal to him. This confidential letter written in March was leaked to the media few days back.

 It is not that Yedurappa did not know the letter and its contents, but, he did not bother about the same. Only when the letter somehow reached him and his loyalists recently, all hell broke loose. The names of Shobha Karandlaje, Murugesh Nirani, V.Somanna, Basavaraj Bommai, Umesh Katti and Renukacharya were mentioned in the letter, accusing them of indulging in anti party activities under his guidance. The letter also criticised Yedurappa taking away about 40 MLAs to a luxury resort to boycott the opening day of the budget session where the Assembly was to pay homage to V.S.Acharya, who built the party from scratch. The letter also charged him in defying the High Command by putting up his ex-Political Secretary B.J.Puttaswamy as a rebel candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections. The letter made a special mention of Shobha Karandlaje who had described Sadananda as Mirsadik and Eshwarappa as Mallaiah Setty - both historical names known for betrayal and treachery! 

 Once the letter became public, Yedurappa group went for a signature campaign demanding immediate convening of the Legislature party to discuss the letter. The ‘named’ ministers have challenged Sadananda to drop them. About 38 MLAs, MLCs and 13 MPs have demanded the BJPLP meeting to discuss the issue of the letter. And Sadananda has refused to call the meeting as the letter is an internal matter between him and the High Command. On the contrary, the Yedurappa group wanted to use the BJPLP meeting to pass a no confidence motion against Sadananda. Their intention was very clear to force Sadananda step down from the CM post. 

Apparently, Yedurappa and group were aware of the impending decision of the Supreme Court. But the legal brains leading Yedurappa’s defense were confident that the SC will not opt for CBI probe and therefore Yedurappa concentrated on poojas - havanas and political tricks to reclaim the CM gaddi. First the Yedurappa group submitted a memorandum signed by 19 MLAs demanding BJP LP meeting. The next day another 19 legislatures sent similar request followed by the demand by 13 MPs for convening BJPLP meeting. At the same time, about 70 MLAs with RSS background signed a petition to the state BJP President and High Command demanding immediate cabinet reshuffle to make way for the young blood to become ministers. They wanted the senior ministers who are enjoying power for the last six years be drafted to party work. 

 The refusal of Sadananda in calling the BJPLP meeting angered Yedurappa group. They then made all the preparations to force Sadananda either to call the meeting or resign from the CM post. They were rearing to go and were confident that the SC will reject the CEC recommendations and bring the situation back to square one, implying that there will be no hurdle for Yedurappa in becoming the CM again. In fact, even the High Command would not have said ‘no’ to Yedurappa becoming the CM, as it had committed to bring him back as CM after the SC Order going in his favour. There were no alternative except to ask Sadananda to resign and hand over the baton to Yedurappa. 

 And the SC Order came as a shocker as it directed the CBI to probe the charges against Yedurappa and family and submit a report by August 3rd! The moment the SC Order was delivered, the apple cart of Yedurappa group collapsed like a pack of cards. Sadananda, Eshwarappa and even the High Command heaved a sigh of relief, as Yedurappa now cannot claim the CM post again. 

 The CBI probe is not a simple probe. It will get to the root and may even arrest Yedurappa, his family members, bureaucrats etc., if it found necessary. Yedurappa can not play ‘politics’ with CBI probe as it will be under the supervision of the Supreme Court. It is also not easy to get bail in CBI cases. CBI will definitely arrest Yedurappa and others sooner or later and one can be sure the CBI probe may take at least a year to file the charge sheet. 

 With these hard realities staring before Yedurappa group, they may, in desperation, take the extreme step of toppling Sadananda government itself. As on now Yedurappa has little over three dozen MLAs as his supporters. There are original BJP MLAs too in this group and they may not go against the BJP and as such they may desert Yedurappa camp. Yedurappa may float a new party with the support of few Ministers and MLAs and try to divide the BJP vote share. But that is a remote possibility as he needs state support as well as High Command’s support to tide over the CBI probe. But nobody knows what will be his next actions. 

That is all.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE NEW INNING Sachin nominated as Rajya Sabha MP. will he be a match winner?

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter

 

THE NEW INNING  

Sachin nominated as Rajya Sabha MP. will he be a match winner?

The cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha and it has evoked mixed responses ranging from extreme appreciation to outright condemnation. There are demands that the ‘nominations’ should be scrapped altogether. If making Sachin, a MP is a token of appreciation, then nobody could have any objections except on the ground that many other great sportsmen or women and senior to Sachin, would have been nominated, instead… 

 One does not understand why Sachin Tendulkar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha which is known as House of Elders. Sachin is not even 40 years and how one can imagine him to be fit enough to enter the house of elders? Sachin who is still playing active cricket is definitely not a fit choice. 

 Of course, there is a provision to nominate twelve eminent people who have excelled in their field and served the country in their own way to the Rajya Sabha. These are great and eminent people who do not stand a chance in the electoral politics. It was with a view to use their services to the betterment of the country, they are nominated to the RS. 

 Over the years, the RS nominations have become a farce as it has become a sort of political rehabilitation to the ‘defeated’ politicians. Truly, the successive governments at the centre have nominated their sympathisers or defeated leaders to the RS. The nominations to the RS were mainly with a view to use the talents and expertise of eminent people both in the running of the government and for high standards in parliamentary debates in the house of elders. In fact, the RS is called the house of elders for having people who have age and experience in their particular field, behind them. During the last three decades the house of elders has become irrelevant as young politicians belonging to dynastic politicians were made RS members from Assembly constituencies. In fact, RS has become the rehabilitation centre for defeated, devalued and disgraced politicians. 

 And the same story is reflected in the RS nominations. Among them the film personalities take the cake. Though many cine artists have won the elections to the Loksabha and some of them have functioned as Ministers too, but some, who were averse to elections, were nominated. In fact, they played a major role in government formulating policies in the field of art and culture. 

 Apparently, the government nominates great musicians - singers to the RS as a token of appreciation to their services and utilising their expertise. But, most often than not, the contribution of these ‘nominated’ great is a big zero. Whatsoever, the nomination of Sachin to the RS, is but an ill conceived move. On an average, cricket consumes around 300 days in a year. And as far as Sachin is concerned, he is running the show for the last 23 years and will at least play for 2 more years. His ardent fans and even a section of the media call him ‘God of Cricket’! Last years itself, there was a clamour for awarding ‘Bharata Ratna’ to him and at the eleventh hour, the move was dropped. Even now there is persistent demand for Bharata Ratna to Sachin. 

 It is true that Sachin was in trouble when he had insulted the Indian flag. There is a criminal case pending against him. Last year, Sachin insulted the Indian Flag again during the ‘Victory run’ after the World Cup Victory. Sachin was seen trampling the Indian Flag. Except excelling in cricket and earning hundreds of crores through commercialising his cricket achievements, there is no other laudable service rendered to the country by Sachin to make him eligible for RS nominations. 

 Whatsoever, the RS seat will be only a ‘decorative piece’ to Sachin. He may not find time to attend the RS session let alone participating in debate. Lata Mangeshkar who was nominated to the RS attended the oath taking and never attended a single session. And Sachin may follow suit. 

 Of course, the provision for nominating ‘eminent’ people to the RS is earmarked for people who excelled or contributed much in the field of Art, culture, science and social service. And Sachin will not come under any of these categories. If the government wants to recognise ‘sports’ in the RS, there are many very senior sportsmen and women who deserve the RS seat more than Sachin. If cricket is to be rewarded, there is Sunil Gavaskar or G.R.Viswanath. If the athletics was to be preferred, then there is the Golden Girl P.T.Usha. There are scores of such examples. Viswanathan Anand, Vijay Amritraj etc. etc.? 

 Arguably, one can be sure of Sachin not doing justice to the RS membership. Then, do we need to ‘honour’ such people with RS seat? 

That is all.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter LICENSE TO TAKE FOR A RIDE! SAGA OF KSTDC TAXI SERVICES AT BIAL, DRIVERS SUFFER AS AUTHORITIES TURN BLIND EYE

 

Firoz.T.Totanawala  

The Bangalore Metro Reporter

LICENSE TO TAKE FOR A RIDE! 

SAGA OF KSTDC TAXI SERVICES AT BIAL, 

DRIVERS SUFFER AS AUTHORITIES TURN BLIND EYE 

 The Managing Director of KSTDC Devaiah is still blind towards the scams in Taxi services operation at BIAL. The KSTDC is making crores commercially by exploiting the Taxi owners cum drivers. And the Corporation seems to have abdicated the responsibility of running the Taxi services to a caucus of unscrupulous people who have floated a namesake Taxi Drivers Welfare Association. While the Taxi drivers toil hard, the caucus led by Neelakantappa are allegedly making money merrily and sharing it with few top officials of KSTDC. And the Tourism secretary Latha Krishna Rao, an eccentric official does not want to hear anything in this regard...

THE SAGA 

In our series of exposures on the scams in the KSTDC managed Taxi Services operations in BIAL, we have exposed in detail how the Taxi owners cum drivers who should have obtained gainful self employment, are being systematically harassed, victimised and exploited by a gang of unscrupulous elements who have floated the KSTDC Airport Taxi Drivers Welfare Association. The Association is owned by one Neelakantappa who is functioning as its General Secretary since its inception. He changes the other bearers and EC Members as per his whims and fancies, with nobody daring to question his actions. 

 The Neelakantappa caucus includes among others, the ATO Chikkamath, Vice President Siddiah and few others. The President, or rather non-working President only for name sake is Prabhakara Reddy, a former MLA who is well past 70 years. Neelakantappa who was running his Maruthi Van in the old Air Port has become a millionaire now, thanks to the Association, corrupt babus of KSTDC and the spineless Taxi drivers who are too scared to protest against their harassment and victimisation. 

 In a way, the caucus is running a parallel establishment in KSTDC. Nobody in KSTDC questions Neelakantappa’s actions even though he is an employee of KSTDC brought in through an outsourcing agency. He is only a Supervisor in BIAL’s KSTDC parking lot and Taxi services. Neelakantappa’s caucus has the backing of Patil, a senior official in the Corporation, whose relative was given the call centre contract. 

 PECULIAR ARRANGEMENT! 

 As Neelakantappa is an employee, though temporary, and is put in charge of supervising the Taxi services in BIAL, he is barred from floating the KSTDC Taxi Drivers Welfare Association. The Taxi owners cum drivers are all unemployed youths who with great difficulty have managed finances or loans to purchase a Taxi and registering it with KSTDC Taxi service. They have to earn a minimum of 2000 rupees per day towards parking fee, loan installments, diesel and maintenance. Only if they earn 2500 per day, they get some income. For this they have to get the trips from Airport and pickups from other places to the Airport. As such, supervisor in the Taxi services cannot legally, technically and even otherwise should have been allowed to represent the Taxi drivers, as he has his own liking and disliking towards drivers. But the KSTDC top brass have allowed this unimaginable arrangement to flourish. 

 WHEELING THE CALL CENTRE! 

 Of course, the KSTDC top brass seem to have given absolute monopoly to the Neelakantappa led association to do as it likes vis-a-vis taxi services and drivers. The call centre too is literally controlled by Neelakantappa gang. The call centre personnel obey their orders to provide trips to the airport. It is a fact that 90% of the drivers do not get any pickups from the call centre as it is reserved for the favourites of Neelakantappa gang. If any other driver requests the call centre to give him a pick up trip, the stock reply from the call centre is talk to Siddaiah or Neelakantappa! The call centre does not practice the system of queue while giving pickups. What more, the Drivers are made to pay Rs.2000 per month towards call centre charges! It is because of this bad practice, many drivers are depending on private travels to get them pickups. The drivers who avail this pick up have to pay Rs.100 per pick up! Even then it is worth as they pay Rs.65 per day to the call centre which does not provide even a couple of pickups in a month! 

 While the Neelakantappa gang exploits the drivers to no end, the gang has prospered beyond anybody’s imagination. Very recently, the Neelakantappa gang arranged a new contractor for the call centre. Earlier the Corporation used to collect the parking and call centre charges through one receipt. Now, the Corporation collects only parking charges on its receipt and Association collects the call centre charges separately. What does this mean? Why has the Corporation discontinued the practice of collecting parking and call charges together?

 If the Corporation has washed off its hands from call centre, there is the real danger of BIAL cancelling the license as it has stipulated that the operator should have its own call centre. Even though the corporation has outsourced the call centre till recently, it used to function as KSTDC call centre and the corporation was collecting the call centre charges along with parking charges. Now, the corporation admits that it has given the call centre contract to one Vikas Global Solutions. And the fact is that it is the Neelakantappa owned association which is collecting call charges officially. This implies that there is a tie up of the agency with the Association. Does this also mean that the Neelakantappa owned Association has taken up the contract also? 

 MONEY, ALL THE WAY! 

 It is another matter that the Association or rather Neelakantappa gang makes the drivers to obey their orders and stomach their vulgar abuses, without a whisper of protest. The drivers have to pay the Association membership fee of Rs. 16500/-. They have to purchase the vehicles from only one particular dealer - Sirish Agencies and they are advised to get the finance from Mahindra Finance or else lose the enrollment in KSTDC. 

They have to pay Rs. 30,000 towards registration in KSTDC. They have to procure the GPRS machines at almost double the market rates and the same is the case with pulse meters. More than this, they are to pay parking charges at Rs.285 per day and that too, they have to pay the monthly parking fee in advance. Despite the monthly parking fee being paid by the drivers one month in advance, they have to pay a penalty of Rs.100 per day if there is delay! Neelakantappa gang penalises the drivers in every conceivable means. The drivers get fined if their shirt is not buttoned, or shoe is not polished et al. 

 The KSTDC has to pay BIAL Rs.85 per day for parking per vehicle. But the KSTDC is charging Rs.285 per day per vehicle. With 600 Taxis plying under KSTDC banner, the Corporation makes a big profit of 1.20 lakh per day. The Corporation which is making such a huge profit without investing a single pie has not provided any sort of facilities to the drivers. The Corporation could have provided group insurance and medical facilities to the drivers and master health checkups once in a year. There are many more such facilities the corporation could have provided at less than 10% of the profits the drivers bring to it. 

 Interestingly, the Corporation which started the Taxi services at BIAL with less than 100 Taxis had assured the drivers that the parking fee will be decreased drastically once the fleet strength crosses 200. Now that the fleet strength has reached 600, the Corporation or rather the Neelakantappa gang have instead increased the parking fee by more than a thousand per month!

 PRIVATE SERVICE! 

 The Neelakantappa gang liberally uses the vehicles of the Taxi drivers free of charge. For example, a taxi is exclusively used by ATO Chikkamath to commute daily from his home to the Airport and back. As if to compensate the driver, he is provided with good numbers of trips from the reception counter itself unlike other taxies which have to queue up in the parking lot. 

 SILENCE PLEASE! 

 Shockingly, the KSTDC top brass is keeping a deafening silence over the entire issue. The present MD Devaiah is being kept in dark about the developments. Our exposures are being talked about widely but not by the MD. Even if he had come to know of the scams, he seems to be posing as if it is not his concern. May be he has become deaf, dumb and blind to the going on. As far as the Tourism Secretary Latha Krishna Rao is concerned, she too is maintaining a deep silence over the issue. 

 ONE MAN SHOW! 

 Neelakantappa is an ‘outsourced’ employee of KSTDC. He is the General Secretary of the KSTDC Airport Taxi Drivers Welfare Association. In addition to this, he also owns many Taxis in his kith and kin’s names. And these Taxi’s are given ‘maximum’ Trips and Pickups from the KSTDC counter and call centre. These taxis are running round the clock and Neelakantappa openly says that as the General Secretary of the Association, he has every right to provide good business to his taxis. 

 If one were to take the statistics of Trips and picks of the vehicles (owned by the kith and kin of NK) bearing numbers 2608, 2499, 2488, 3443, 1331, 1144 and 2592, the cat will be out of the bag! These vehicles are doing a roaring business. In addition to this, vehicle bearing number 9759 is exclusively used by ATO Chikkmath for pick and drop to his home. In return, this vehicle also gets huge business. 

 Every vehicle, as a rule, has to be in the queue at the parking lot and the KSTDC counter in the Airport is only for reception. But few favourites of Neelakantappa are allowed to pick up the passengers directly from the counter! Gone were the days when a leader sacrifices his self for the benefit of the community. And Neelakantappa sacrifices the interests of other taxi drivers to get good business to his vehicles! 

Any comments!

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter BEG YOUR PARDON! YEDURAPPA THREATENS HIS DETRACTORS TO BEG FORGIVENESS!

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

The Bangalore Metro Reporter

 BEG YOUR PARDON! 

YEDURAPPA THREATENS HIS DETRACTORS TO BEG FORGIVENESS! 

 The other day, B.S.Yeddyurappa has thundered that those who have leveled charges of corruption against him will have to come to him to beg forgiveness, within a short time. He had again proclaimed his innocence by claiming that he is as white as snow. He has also stated that he will not go to Delhi to reclaim his ‘lost’ CM gaddi. 

 What does Yedurappa’s statement implies? From day one, when the charges were made, he is crying from the rooftops that he has done no wrong. Even when the official documents substantiated the charges, he still stood his ground. Instead of admitting his lapses, Yedurappa is threatening his adversaries especially in his own party. 

 Yedurappa’s predicament is his own doing. Instead of using the golden opportunity to serve the people better after he became the CM and bringing qualitative changes in the administration, he indulged in commercialization. 

 Apparently, Yedurappa became the CM by procuring the support of six independent MLAs. Later, more than 20 MLAs were procured under ‘Operation Kamala’, where in, the MLAs were made to resign their seat and join BJP. Then immediately, they were either made ministers or chairman of the Boards. They were fielded as BJP candidates and all care taken to ensure their win. At one point of time, out of the cabinet strength of 34 including CM, almost 20 were outsiders who joined BJP just before the general elections or under Operation Kamala. 

Through Operation Kamala, Yedurappa reduced the strength of the opposition. 

 Initially, after becoming the Deputy CM, Yedurappa allowed his family members to do the leg work for him. Yedurappa who was in power for the first time in life and that too as the Deputy CM, wanted loyal people around him. The political leaders in the present scenario do not believe in their followers for the fear of betrayal at an opportune time. So, it was inevitable for Yedurappa to bring in his family members to the centre stage. Besides, he brought in officials of his caste around him and the same arrangement continued even after Yedurappa became the CM. 

 After becoming the CM and ensuring that there will be no threat to his gaddi by undertaking Operation Kamala, Yedurappa started his poly tricks. He targeted the Congress and JD(S) leaders particularly HD Deve Gowda and his family. He was very much particular about settling scores with Deve Gowda family and that was his biggest folly. Gradually, the Deve Gowda family started hitting back at Yedurappa with Kumaraswamy taking the leadership of the counter attack. 

 

When Kumaraswamy started exposing one scandal after another, the people were shocked at the quality and quantity of the scams. For the first time in the history of the nation, Yedurappa had introduced taking ‘bribe’ through cheques! The dealers who clinched deals with him had to deposit the bribe amount in the name of firms and companies floated by the kith and kin of Yedurappa. Many valuable BDA sites in posh localities were ‘gifted’ by Yedurappa to his kith and kins. Yedurappa’s scam studded rule made headlines at the national level and the BJP High Command was totally embarrassed. 

 Media too vied with one another to expose the scams of Yedurappa, his family members and some of his ministers. Many ministers came under the scanner and by October 2010, Yedurappa was in deep under trouble. Yedurappa, to save his gaddi disqualified 16 MLAs including five ministers for revolting against his leadership and won the confidence vote by a whisker. By this time, the Lokayukta, who was probing the Mining scam, submitted the report in July last year. Yedurappa was prominently named in the report and he had to go. 

 By then, the Lokayukta court had admitted many cases filed against Yedurappa and company under Prevention of Corruption Act. In one such case, he was forced to camp in the Parappana Agrahara for 23 days. Each and every case was held to be Prima facie positive. In one case, filed on the basis of the Lokayukta report, the High Court has quashed the FIR filed against him, on technical grounds, mind it, not on merit. Yedurappa has successfully prevented the government to go for appeal in the Supreme Court. 

 Ever since the HC Order, Yedurappa is staking his claim to the CM post again. He has even gone to the extent of toppling his own government but developed cold feet at the eleventh hour. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee has recommended CBI enquiry into his ‘donation’ scam in the mining scam. To put it bluntly, no CM in the past is accused of such large number of scams and corruption related criminal cases. 

 Despite tell tale evidences of his corruption, nepotism and favouritism, Yedurappa is proclaiming his innocence and accusing his detractions of conspiracy! Yedurappa lost a golden opportunity to provide a clean and honest administration. He had committed unimaginable scams and according to him, those who exposed his scams, are all conspirators! And Yedurappa tells them to beg forgiveness from him, the earlier, the better. 

 On the contrary, it is Yedurappa who has to apologise to the people who gave him a chance to prove his worth as the CM and not to misuse and abuse his position to make money. He became the CM due to the mandate of people. With all the scams painting him black, one should appreciate his guts for demanding his detractors to beg forgiveness! This is nothing but an accused becoming the judge! 

And that is all!

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter PRICE OF PRIVATIZATION! REGISTRATION STALLED FOR 3 DAYS.

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

 PRICE OF PRIVATIZATION! 

 REGISTRATION STALLED FOR 3 DAYS. 

 Never in the history of 140 plus years of registration department, was the registration stopped even for a day. But, it has happened now. For full three days, the Sub Registrar offices could not register the documents due to the strike by the computer operators of the private companies. One can not blame the operators who were grossly underpaid while their companies have made hundreds of crores in the last nine years. The operators are also demanding regularisation of their services in the department. The stoppage of registration work should make the department hang its head in shame. 

The registration in the State’s Sub Registrar offices was stopped for full three days, which is the only time in its 140 years old history. And this was due to the strike by the poorly paid operators of the private companies who were given computerization contract in the department. 

 The computerized registration was introduced in 2003 by the then IGR D. Satya Murthy who spent a fortune to develop the Kaveri software. However, instead of taking up this task through the department employees, Satya Murthy entrusted the implementation to two private companies, CMS and ECIL, by manipulating the tender. 

 Under the ‘Kaveri’ system, the documents are scanned; thumb impression and photo of the parties captured and data entries are made and printed in the document itself. Once the SR certifies the documents, the same is scanned and stored in CDs. The documents are delivered to the parties immediately. 

 The companies are paid on pet page basis in the document. Even though the department collects one percent as the service charge in the form of Registration fee, the registering public are required to pay the contractor’s service charges separately. Shockingly, while the cost of the work cannot be more than Rs. 3 to 4 per page, the companies earn Rs.30 per page. As per the contract, the companies are to establish the necessary infrastructure, provide the operators and run the contract for five years and then leave the infrastructure to the department. 

 Both these contractors made hundreds of crores in the first five years. As per the agreement, the companies and the Software providers had to train the department officials within three years. But even to this day, that is nine years after the contracts, the department officials are yet to be trained. 

 Whatsoever, the companies have appointed about 700 operators throughout the state and pay them a meager salary. Though the companies are obliged to pay minimum salary, it simply pays them salaries lower than the minimum wages. Initially, a majority of the operators were not experienced and there were blunders in registration process. Obviously, the companies are required to train the operators, but, since these companies have allegedly ‘booked’ the senior officials in the department, there are no asker and teller. The operators were paid 2 to 4 thousand per month as salary and were not even provided with basic facilities. They were hired and fired without logic or reason. It is the generosity of the Sub Registrars that sustained them. In major cities the operators are tipped Rs.50 to 100 per scanning of a document. But in offices where the ‘income’ is meager, the operators are put to hardship. It is another matter that few operators in Bangalore offices have made a fortune by doubling as cashier for the SR or agents. This is only an exception rather a rule. 

 Arguably, the department should have stipulated that the companies pay a decent salary to its operators as bad working conditions may affect the registration process. Further, the public were forced to spend extra money and time to rectify mistakes in their documents committed by the operators. When mistakes became the order of the day, the then IGR issued a circular levying a penalty of Rs.1000 per mistake to the operators! Had the same been levied on the companies, things would have been different. How could an operator who barely gets 2 to 3 thousand salary, afford to pay this penalty? If there are more than one mistake the operator would rather quit the job than paying the penalty. 

 Interestingly, the contract has expired in June 2008. The department had made attempts to train its employees to take up the computerization from July 2008. But the training was simply name sake and the companies managed to get extensions after extensions and are completing nine years soon. And they continued the practice of paying meager salary to its operators. 

 Finally, the operators thought it fit to strike the work demanding higher pay and their absorption in the department. On 16th, they struck work and the works in the SR offices came to a stand still. For three days the picture was same. And on 4th day, the operators called off their strike and the business in the SR offices resumed as normal. For full three days, the SR offices ceased to function. The stoppage of works in the SR offices for three days is unheard of in the 140 year old history of the department. 

 Arguably, the department could have threatened the companies to terminate their contract if their operators are not paid fair salary. But it remained silent. Shockingly, the IGR and the revenue Secretary too remained silent. The IGR on his part should have directed the SRs to start the manual registration to avoid difficulties to the public. But the IGR Chandrashekar did not approve it and eventually, the public were denied their basic right of registration. Heavens would not have fallen if the SRs did manual registration and kept the documents pending, till things became clear. After clearing manual registration, the IGR would have provided intensive training to the department officials for computer registration. This is not difficult as majority of the staff and officials have computer knowledge. Within a week, they would have been ready to take up the registration. But neither the IGR nor the Bhoomi Secretary Rajiv Chawla were prepared to take this simple step. 

 Eventually, the department and the public suffered for three days, for no fault. This is the price the department and the public had to pay for the folly of few officials who ‘privatised’ the computerization. 

That is all.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE POLITICAL IMITATION! BSR CONGRESS, IMITATING YSR CONGRESS OF AP

BY Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter

 

THE POLITICAL IMITATION! 

 BSR CONGRESS, IMITATING YSR CONGRESS OF AP

B.Sriramulu, is on a Padayatra from Bidar to Bengaluru. At the end of the Padayatra in Bengaluru, Sriramulu will announce the formation of BSR Congress, on the lines of YSR Congress in AP, owned by YSR’s son Jagan Mohan Reddy. The party is named after Jagan’s father late Y.S.Rajashekara Reddy, the former CM of AP. The Padayatra is also a copy of YSR’s Padayatra in AP before he became the CM. There is all the likelihood of YSR Congress and BSR Congress joining hands for the creation of Rayalseema Pradesh which will include bordering areas in Karnataka... 

 After B.S.Yeddyurappa was forced to resign, all the Reddy Brothers lost their minister ship and as their names figured in the Mining scam report, they were denied the berths. Sriramulu made all out efforts to become the minister. After Janaradhana Reddy was arrested by CBI and put behind bars and the virtual stop to the mining business, the Reddy Brothers were forced to rethink their strategy. Sriramulu, then resigned his Assembly seat to win by-election later. Before his resignation, the Reddy Brothers were planning to float a regional party and Sriramulu was their mascot. 

 Of course, the moment Sriramulu filed the nomination to the by-election; he gave enough indication of imitating YSR Congress of AP. Sriramulu got the ‘Fan’ as his election symbol which is the symbol of YSR Congress. During the election campaign itself, Sriramulu gave enough hints at forming a regional party and to portray himself as the champion of Backward Classes. As on now, he has succeeded in styling himself as the Valmiki leader. In fact, Sriramulu tried to get some support of ‘intellectuals’ cum politicians who could not succeed in politics. 

 As he wanted to imitate YSR Congress, Sriramulu decided to a name the party in his name itself - BSY Congress, which stands for B.Sriramulu. However, BSR to people is propagated as Badavara Shramikara Raithara Congress. He suffixed Congress so that BSR Congress and YSR Congress sounds similar. Thus, Sriramulu’s party has many similarities like pronunciation, election symbol and the naming the party in the name of an individual. 

 Now, what about the style of functioning? It is a well known fact that Jagan went on a tour cum padayatra in AP to express his gratitude to the love and affection shown by the people towards his father YSR. Similarly, Sriramulu is undertaking padayatra from Bidar to Bangaluru on the pretext of helping the people who are reeling under severe drought. 

 Arguably, one does not know what Sriramulu will achieve with his hi-tech Padayatra with meticulous planning and liberal expenses. Sriramulu in every meeting held during the Padayatra is lamenting about his ‘jailed’ friend Janardhana Reddy. He says that Janardhana Reddy is very innocent and he is being ‘fixed’ through conspiracies! His statements in this regard have made him a laughing stock. 

 Of course, Sriramulu’s Padayatra and his BSR Congress will be a ready made platform for the Reddy Brothers to start their political business afresh, after the release of Janardhana Reddy. Interestingly, YSR Congress’ Boss Jagan is also facing the threat of arrest by the CBI which is probing his amassing of wealth under the direction of the High Court. Already his close aids are in jail and the CBI may arrest Jagan any time from now. 

 There is another discreet tie up of BSR and YSR Congress. The tie up may trigger separate Rayalseema Pradesh comprising of Rayalseema region in AP with Bellary, Raichur and other bordering areas which sounds as their long term aim. Apparently, Sriramulu is playing AP politics in Karnataka. 

That is all.