By Team Mangalorean Bangalore

BANGALORE, March 17, 2010: Karnataka Government on Wednesday ordered a probe into the incident of firing by the security of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at its Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu, on the outskirts of the City, on Tuesday.

Making a statement in both Houses of the Karnataka Legislature, Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa said the police have registered a case following a complaint lodged by Assistant Commandant of the Central Industrial Security Force P K Ramaswamy, in-charge of the Byalalu unit.

The facility has two large antennae to receive signals from the Chandrayaan space craft. The Chief Minister said the facility is guarded by a six to seven foot compound wall. 24x7 security has been provided at seven places of the facility, including the main gate.

According to the complaint at the Tavarekere police station, some anti-social elements had fired at the security near the main gate and fled when the security also fired at them. The Chief Minister also said senior police officers had visited the spot.

Meanwhile, Home Minister V S Acharya said "there are no traces of gun shots outside the building (ISRO's Indian Deep Space Network centre). Preliminary investigation suggested that there were no traces of gun shots from any intruder.”

He said CISF personnel Jadhav who was on duty claimed he noticed movement of two persons at about 3.30 am yesterday and he fired eight bullets to retaliate firing by intruders. "While six empty cartridges out of the eight rounds fired have been recovered from the spot, no trace of gunfire outside the ISDN complex was found.

"This is what the situation is, Dr Acharya said, responding to the issue raised by Leader of Opposition Motamma of Congress during zero hour.

Dr. RAvindra of the Forensic Science Laboratory inspected the site and found five empty cartridges with CISF numbers. They were fired from constable Jadhav’s rifle. But, the remaining three cartridges were not found anywhere.

The police and CISF have launched a joint probe into the issue and the government would initiate action on receipt of a inquiry report, Dr Acharya said, adding there was no need for panic and all precautionary measures were taken.

Home Minister P Chidambaram and Karnataka Police had yesterday ruled out any terror angle to the incident that initially raised security fears in the city which is on the terror radar.

Council passes Bills in Opposition's absence

Despite the Opposition staging a walk out from the Assembly, Karnataka Legislative Council  today passed two bills, including the University of Agricultural Sciences Bill, 2009, which was returned earlier from the Governor H R Bharadwaj with a message to reconsider the bill by taking into consideration the long-term impact of the legislation. Piloting the bill earlier in the House, Karnataka Agriculture Minister S A Ravindranath informed that it was being presented in response to the ICAR recommendations to all the States to have an Agricultural University with multidiscipline approach for imparting training and education in an integrated manner. He said the new Act, which would replace the State Agricultural Universities Act-1963 on the line of the Model bill for the State Agricultural Universities, was formulated by the ICAR.

Among other features, the Bill also included a provision to receive donations and allow the University to admit to its privileges, institutions functioning outside India and grant affiliations to conduct instructions in Agriculture and allied sciences.

Coming down heavily against the Bill, Opposition members including Ms Motamma, V R Sudarshan (Congress) and M C Nanaiai (JD-S) said the Bill was aimed to curtail the powers and authority of the Governor who was the Chancellor of all the Universities.

Speaking on the issue, Mr Nanaiah appealed to the Government to take the issue raised by the Governor seriously to avoid any future possible conflicts which may result in a constitutional crisis.

As the Government was adamant on the issue and put the Bill for approval, both the Opposition members of Congress and JD(S) walked out of the House. Later, the Bill was passed after the Chairman put the Bill for voting with a voice vote.

The House also passed a Bill on the Universities of Horticulture Sciences Bill-2009 without any debate in the absence of the Opposition members.

K'taka to set up separate Board for rural water supply

Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Jagdish Shettar today said the state government is planning to set up a separate board for rural water supply on the lines of urbran areas.

Replying to M C Sudhakar of Congress and others in the legislative assembly on the shortage of water during the summer months in rural areas, Mr Shettar said the setting up of such a board would end almost all problems in providing smooth supply of drinking water to villages in the state.

Stating that the government would take steps to restrict digging of borewells, the minister said funds would be released within a week for overcoming the shortage of water in the coming months.

Private University bill: K'taka Opposition resumes dharna in Assembly

The entire Opposition Congress and Janata Dal (S) members resumed their dharna in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Wednesday morning over passage of a private university bill, but called it later after government assured them that their concerns over the bill passed last week would be taken into consideration when they come up for debate in the Legislative Council.

Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah and JDS members had resumed the dharna which they had launched in last Friday protesting against passage of the Alliance Private University Bill, ignoring their pleas to refer the bills to a joint select committee. Mr Siddaramaiah, Congress deputy leader T B Jayachandra and Bandeppa Kashampur (both JDS) hit out at the government for setting a bad precedent of passing the bill when the opposition was on dharna and the house was not in order.

Following a plea by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, Speaker K G Bopaiah adjourned the house for a brief spell and held a meeting with floor leaders in his chamber. A consensus was reached that the government would consider objections raised by the opposition when these bills are taken up for consideration in the legislative council. 

Following this, the Congress and JD (S) members withdraw their stir and decided to cooperate with the Government. Minister for Higher Education Aravind Limbavali said that he would provide all details related to the private university and the Alliance Business School to the Leaders of the Opposition.

78 cases against 113 officials for irregularities in NREGS

The Karnataka Government has registered 78 cases against 113 officials on charges of irregularities and misappropriation of funds in works taken up under NREG scheme.

An amount of Rs 2,129.19 crore has been utilised under the scheme during the current year and the Centre has granted Rs 2,401.48 crore, Minister for Rural Development Jagadish Shettar said while replying to a question of Amaregowda Baiyyapura of Congress during question hour in the Legislative Assembly.

He said the government would soon appoint an Ombudsman and introduce social audit. Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa promised to release funds for renovation of a library building that was in a dilapidated condition in Chikkaballapur. N Sampangi (Cong) pointed out that the building was inaugurated by late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and started by noted statesman M Visveswarayya.

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