Pejawar seer urges people to fight against proposed Ultra Mega Power Plant in Dakshina Kannada village

March 2, 2013

Udupi, Mar 2: Strongly opposing the Karnataka government's plan of setting up an Ultra Mega Power Plant (UMPP) at Niddodi village in Dakshina Kannada district, Pejawar Mutt pontiff Vishwesha Tirtha Swamiji has urged the local people to fight against it.

Addressing mediapersons here, the seer said that he would request the Union and State governments to give up the project.

The proposed UMPP at Niddodi was four times bigger than the coal-based thermal power plant of Udupi Power Corporation Ltd (UPCL) at Yellur in Udupi district.

It was essential to stop the project at the conception stage. The people of Niddodi and surrounding villages should fight against the project. While he would not accept the leadership of such a struggle, he would offer all his support to any agitation in this regard. “When I fought against the UPCL, I alone had to sit on a fast against it, it was a lone struggle,” he said.

It was not a question of whether the BJP-led State government or the Congress-led Union government was supporting the UMPP.

The main point was that the UMPP was unsuitable for the coastal region. Besides environmental problems, it would lead to the destruction of fertile agricultural land and affect the livelihood of a large number of people. This was a totally unacceptable project.

He would urge Union Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily to drop the UMPP.

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No relief for Siddaramaiah in MUDA case as HC junks plea against Governor's sanction

News Network

September 24,2024

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed the petition filed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah against Governor Thawarchand Gehlot's decision to sanction the complaint and investigation against him in the alleged Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam case.

Justice M Nagaprasanna said the facts narrated in the petition would undoubtedly require an investigation.

The court has also said that the Governor's order approving sanction to investigate against Siddaramaiah under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act does not suffer from application of mind, instead has abundance of application of mind.

Meanwhile, the court rejected the request made by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi to stay the order of the court. The court has vacated the interim order passed on August 19. In the interim order the trial court was directed not to take any precipitative action against Siddaramaiah. On August 17, Governor had approved sanction under section 17 A of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 218 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita ( BNSS), citing three applications.

The court said the private complainants were justified in registering the complaint and seeking approval from the governor.

Insofar as private complainants seeking sanction under section 17A, the court said the provision nowhere requires only a police officer to seek sanction from a competent authority. The court further said it is in fact the duty of the private complainants to seek such approval.

Earlier, The High Court had completed its hearing in the case on September 12, and reserved its orders. It had also directed a special court in Bengaluru to defer further proceedings and not to take any precipitative action against the Chief Minister.

The case pertains to allegations that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife B M Parvathi in an upmarket area in Mysuru that had higher property value as compared to the location of her land that had been "acquired" by MUDA.

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