3C DECCAN HERALD B Saturday, June 17, 2017

Metro

Industries aroundVrushabhavathy valley toldto set up treatment plantsBENGALURU: Followingthedi-rections issuedby the SupremeCourt, Karnataka State Pollu-tionControlBoard(KSPCB)onFriday identified water-basedindustries around Vrushabha-vathy valley and its catchmentarea and directed them to setup effluent treatment plants atthe earliest.

The apex court had issuedthe orders on February 22,2017, on a writ petition, direct-ing all industries to set up pri-mary treatment plants withinthree months.

KSPCB chairman Laksh-man said that following the or-ders, the board identified 474water-based industries in thecatchment area which fall un-der various categories, leadingtill Byramanagala tank. Thecategories include surfacetreatment and electroplating,

bulk drug and pharma, dyeingand washing, garment wash-ing, service stations, plastic re-cyclingwithwashing,batteries,automobile and engineering.

“The industries are requiredto treat and recycle the efflu-ents completely within thepremisesto complywiththedi-rections issued by the SupremeCourt. There should not be anydischargeofuntreatedortreat-ed effluents into Vrushabha-vathy valley and into Byra-managala tank, directly orindirectly. Penal action will betaken against industries notcomplying with the directionsor with the Air and Water(Preservation and Control ofPollution) Act, 1974,” he said.

Theindustrieshavebeenlist-ed out on the Board’s website-http://kspcb.gov.in.DH News Service

BENGALURU: The High Courtof Karnataka has stayed the or-der of the National Green Tri-bunal’s (NGT) principal bench,New Delhi, which had directedthecivicauthorities inBengalu-ru to close down polluting in-dustries in the catchment areaof Bellandur lake.

NGT had passed the orderon April 19, 2017, on a petitionfiled by Rajya Sabha memberD Kupendra Reddy about in-dustries letting out untreatedeffluents into the lake leadingto frothing and fire.

Hearing a petition filed byShashi Distilleries Pvt Ltd, a di-vision bench comprising ChiefJusticeSubhroKamalMukher-jee and Justice P S Dinesh Ku-mar also stayed the notice is-sued by Karnataka StatePollution Control Board(KSPCB) to the distillery toclose down.

KSPCB had issued notice to

the distillery on May 12 follow-ing directions by the NGT. Thepetitioner has contended thatKSPCB issued the notice with-out application of mind.

The distillery challenged theNGTorderon thegrounds thatit passed the order without ju-risdiction as the petition re-garding pollution in Bellandurlake has to be heard by NGT inthe Southern Zone bench,Chennai.

The petitioner contendedthat NGT’s order is against theprovisions of the NationalGreen Tribunal Act, 2010. Sec-tion 4 Sub-Section 3 specifiesterritorial jurisdiction of NGT.The petitioner sought direc-tions to quash the NGT andKSPCB orders. The bench alsoissued notice to the state gov-ernment, BBMP, Bescom,BWSSBandKSPCBinthemat-ter.DH News Service

Madhuri Rao

BENGALURU: Around 400 lawstudentshadanxiousmomentsas the University Law Collegedelayed issuing admission tick-ets for the final examinationbeginning on Monday, June 19.

Dr V Sudesh, principal anddean, University Law College,BangaloreUniversity, however,told DH that the delay wascaused by technical glitches inthe software portal.

“We distribute admissiontickets online. We were sup-posed to distribute them yes-terday (June 15) but there wasa delay as the server of the por-tal was down due to a trans-former burst in Sadashivna-gar,” he said. Dr Sudesh saidthe company that processes allits examination work, repairedit in the morning and all stu-dentsweredistributedhall tick-ets at 4 pm.

However, thestudents claimthey received the admission

tickets only by 7 pm. Nikhil,(name changed) was moreworried about whether theexam would happen or not ashe had not received the admis-sion ticket. He said, “It is notthe first time we are facing thisproblem. Every time we havean exam, this problem arises.Not only this, we are also madeto spend time paying examina-tion fees and other relatedwork only at the fag end of thesemester when we are busypreparing for the exams.”

Denying the allegations,Sudesh said, “I had made alter-native arrangements for per-mitting students with the stu-dent’s copy, if we were unabletodistributetheadmissiontick-ets today. A student copy is adocumentthat containsthede-tails of the exam that the stu-dent is appearing for.”

However, the students de-mand that the officials put anend to all these problems.DH News Service

HC stays NGT order onclosure of units around lake

Hall ticket delay gives tensemoments to law students

BENGALURU, DHNS: The gov-ernment has made a nominalincrease in fee for engineeringcourses. The revised fee is in-creased by a maximum of Rs1,000 compared to the fee inthe previous academic year.

Private engineering collegeshad asked for at least 10% hike

in fee. But the government in-creased it between Rs 500 andRs1,000.ThefeeforBSc(Agri-culture) and BVSc has been in-creasedby15%and40%respec-tively while the fee for otherprofessional courses likeB.Pharma and DPharma re-mains the same.

BENGALURU, DHNS: Danglingcables, choked stormwaterdrains and the sewage-filledroads in Bharathinagar andCommercial Street irked theBengaluru Development Minis-ter K J George and Urban De-velopment Minister RoshanBaig on Friday.

During an inspection ofworks at Bharathinagar, thetwo ministers noticed that theSWDs were filled with garbagethrown by the hoteliers. Someshops were letting the dirty wa-ter on the road. They directedthe officials to issue notices tothe hoteliers warning them thattheir shops would be closed ifthey continue polluting thearea.

Bosky Khanna

BENGALURU: Officials fromthe urban development de-partment and the Karnata-ka State Pollution ControlBoard have decided to con-tinue the cleaning drive inBellandur Lake.

Urban development depart-ment officials said a team oflawyers will review the stay or-der issued by the KarnatakaHigh Court on Thursday.Meanwhile, the orders havebeen shared with the NationalGreen Tribunal (NGT) for ex-amination and further guide-lines, by a team of legal ex-perts.

Mahendra Jain, additionalchief secretary, UDD, told DH,“Cleaning the lake was on theagenda of the state govern-ment and it was recommend-ed by the expert committeeeven before the NGT issued itsorders. So, it will continue.Yes, the time given by the com-mittee was more than whatwas scheduled by the NGT.However, the government hasset a deadline and we will ad-here to it.”He added that afterclearing weeds and checkinginflow of untreated sewage,desilting will continue.

KSPCB chairman Laksh-man said that apart from theexpert committee’s recom-mendations, the Board is alsofollowing the Supreme Courtorders directing all pollutioncontrol boards to ensure thatwater bodies are free from pol-lution. Besides, the Board fol-lows rules issued by the Min-istry of Environment andForests through the CentralPollution Control Board.

“We have been issuing clo-

sure orders to industriesaround Bellandur lake and itscatchment areas under sec-tion 33 (A) of the Air and Wa-ter (Prevention and Control ofPollution) Act, 1974. Accord-ing to the Act, the Board is em-powered to conduct inspec-tion and close down pollutingindustries around all waterbodies,” Lakshman said.

Members of Whitefield Ris-ing and residents around Bel-landur lake opine that it is themoral responsibility and dutyof the government to ensurethat water bodies are not pol-luted.

“Though delayed, the gov-ernment was doing its dutyand irrespective of the orders,it should rejuvenate Bellandurlake,” said Lokesh, a residentnear Bellandur lake.DH News Service

HC stay won’t affect cleaningoperations at Bellandur lake

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Weeds dumpedaround lakeThe 8,000 tonnes of weedsremoved by the BangaloreDevelopment Authorityfrom the lake have beendumped around the lakesince the BDA and BBMPofficials are yet to finalise aplace to dispose it of.

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Meeting onHC orderOfficials in the UDD said ameeting with the chief sec-retary and all stakeholderswill soon be held to reviewthe orders issued by thehigh court and the NGT. Ameeting with the expertcommittee will also be heldto decide the future courseof action.

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BENGALURU, DHNS: The AntiCorruption Bureau (ACB) offi-cials on Tuesday raided sev-en government servants indifferent parts of the statefor owning assets dispropor-tionate to their knownsources of income.

The officers raided are: K THalaswamy, deputy transportcommissioner,KR Puram,Ben-galuru; Dr S M V Kumaragow-da, principal, district trainingcentre,Kolar;Venkataramanap-pa, senior hostel warden, gov-ernment holste for boys,Chikkaballapur;VijayKumarMGudageri, revenue inspector,Shiggaon Circle, Haveri;BasavarajRudrappaGoudar,as-sistant executive engineer, Pan-chayat Raj Department,Raichur; Bannappa Kumar, as-sistant engineer, KrishnaBhagyaJalaNigamaNiyamitha,Khanapur, Yadgir; SahadevBheemrao Mankere, executiveengineer, Gescom (urban), Kal-aburagiandSPThippareddy,as-sistant engineer, KRIDL, landarmy, Chikkamagaluru.

The sleuths unearthed twosites in the names of Ha-laswamy’sfatherandwife,26.20acres of land in his father’sname, three cars worth Rs 48lakh, three bikes, gold orna-ments worth Rs 11 lakh, silverarticlesworthRs1.5lakhandRs2.7 lakh in cash.

Duringraidson Kumaragow-da’s premises, the sleuths un-earthed details of about 24.55acreslandinKolardistrict,threesites in Bengaluru, three-storeybuilding comprising 12 housesand three shops in Bengaluru,three-storey building compris-inganursinghomeandahouse

inMulbagal,threeshopsinMul-bagal, Rs 1.70 lakh cash, 685gramsgoldjewellery,500gramssilver articles, one car, one am-bulance and one bike.

According to sleuths,Venkataramanappa has twowives — Gangamma andNarasamma. He has two sitesand one house in Chikkaballa-pur,threehousesandtwoshopsat Mashtur village, gold articlesworth Rs 5 lakh, silver articlesworth Rs 1.5 lakh, one car andtwo bikes and Rs 21,000, all inNarasamma’s name.

InGangamma’sname,hehas1.6 guntas land in Chintamanitaluk,2.7guntaslandatKariyap-panapalya , Kasaba hobli, threesitesinChikkaballapurtownandone bike.

With regard to Vijay KumarM Gudageri, the sleuths un-earthedthreesitesworthRs13.5lakhinhiswife’snameinHaveri,aduplexhouseworthRs50lakhin Haveri, one car and threebikes.

During the raid on Basavaraj

Rudrappa Goudar, the sleuthsunearthed details of 36 acresland, 13 sites, one SUV and goldornaments worth Rs 30 lakh.

The sleuths unearthed sixsites, one car, one bike, gold or-naments worth Rs 5 lakh, silverarticles worth Rs 30,000, do-mestic appliances worth Rs 4lakh and 15 bank accounts dur-ingraidsonBannappaKumar’soffice and houses.

SahadevBheemraoMankerehasearnedpropertiesinhisandfamilymembers’names.Hehasthree houses worth Rs 60 lakh,oneshop,goldornamentsworthRs 8 lakh, a 14-acre land and afarmhouse.

During the raid on SP Thip-pareddy’sresidence,thesleuthsunearthed one duplex houseworth Rs 1 crore, gold orna-ments worth Rs 10 lakh, twocars, two bikes, 20 insurancepolicies, 10 bank accounts, onebanklocker,Rs2lakhdeposit inhis children’s name, five mutualfunds,onesiteand16acresland.DH News Service

ACB raids 7 govt officials acrossstate, unearths assets worth crores

Cleaning the lake was on the agenda of the state governmentand it was recommended by the expert committee evenbefore the NGT issued its orders. DH FILE PHOTO

KSPCB withdraws its petitionThe Karnataka State Pollution Control Board on Fridaywithdrew its petition before the National Green Tribunalseeking the bench's clarification whether to allow the re-opening of industries near Bellandur lake which have notbeen discharging effluents into the water body, reportsDHNS from New Delhi.Since the Karnataka High Court had stayed the NGT pro-ceedings on Bellandur lake, KSPCB said it will withdraw itspetition. The NGT granted permission.Earlier, the NGT, while directing the KSPCB to close downall industries in the vicinity of Bellandur lake, ordered in-spection to check whether these units have set up effluenttreatment plants. However, KSPCB was unclear whether toallow industries, which were not discharging any effluentsinto lake to reopen, and sought NGT’s clarification.

BE fee hiked by up to Rs 1K

Officialapathytocivicwoesirksministers

Ola honchos bookedunder Copyright ActBENGALURU, DHNS: The Jee-van Bima Nagar police havebooked the chief executive offi-cer (CEO) and the chief trans-port officer (CTO) of Ola cabsunder the Copyright Act for air-ingmusiccontentintheirPrimePlay cabs for which LahariRecordingcompanyholdsanex-clusive copyrights.

The police raided the Ola of-fice in East Bengaluru andseizedcomputerCPUsandoth-er accessories in which musicand entertainment files werestored. Warrants have been is-sued against CEO BhaveshAgarwal and CTO Ankith, whoare abroad on business trips.While Agarwal has gone to theUnited States, Ankith is in Sin-gapore, the police said.

LahariRecordingCompany’sLahariVelustumbledonthisvi-olation when he travelled in acab from Kempegowda Inter-national Airport. He hired aPrime Play Cab from Ola to re-turn home as he did not wantto disturb his driver in the weehours when his plane landed.During the journey, he notedthat the songs of recently re-leased movies and some fromyet-to-be released films wereplayed on the Ola Prime Playtab.

He collected details from thedriver and the following daylodged a complaint with Addi-tional Commissioner of Police(East) Zone, Hemanth Nim-balkar,whoreferredittotheju-risdictional JB Nagar police.

The officials of Anti Corruption Bureau search the house of NVenkataramanappa, a hostel warden, in Chikkaballapur onFriday. DH PHOTO

Guv seeks CM’s explanation on KrishnappaBENGALURU, DHNS:GovernorVajubhai Vala is learnt to havetold Chief Minister Siddarama-iah on Friday that he is expect-ing him to take action againstHousing Minister M Krishnap-pawhowasreportedly involvedin a land scam.

The Governor, in a two-pageletter to Siddaramaiah, hasasked the chief minister to in-form him about on what actionhe would take against his Cab-

inet colleague soon after theSupreme Court judgement onirregularities in acquisition ofagricultural land in Vajarahalliand Raghuvanahalli, offKanakapura Road in Bengalu-ru south taluk. Vajubhai Valahad recently taken objection tothecontinuationofKrishnappaas the Housing minister on thegrounds that his name figuresin a land scam. Former BJPcorporator N R Ramesh had

complained to the Governorthat the minister had commit-ted irregularities in the acqui-sitionofagricultural landinVa-jarahalli and Raghuvanahalli.Based on the complaint, theGovernor had sought an expla-nation from the chief minister.

Siddaramaiah had subse-quentlyrepliedtotheGovernorthat he will take appropriateaction based on the SC judge-ment.