Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Jan 15: The state Governor has refused to sign on the dotted line for the Akrama-Sakrama ordinance, and has returned the same to the government with a note that the contents should be discussed in detail in the legislature party before a final decision can be taken. The Chief Minister, as usual, squarely blamed the opposition parties, particularly the JDS, for laying out thorns on the path of implementing the Sakrama scheme.

The government had made a last ditch effort to implement the Sakrama scheme, seeking to allow the people of the city to get their illegal constructions regularized, by paying penalties as prescribed, just when the code of conduct was to come in force relating to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Paliake (BBMP) election. However, the Governor did not approve of its action in hurrying through this legislation on an issue pending since the last many years. The ordinance, if signed, would have benefitted about seven lac families in the city, who would have voted for the BJP. The opposition parties had vociferously opposed the penalties prescribed in the bill.

The Governor observed that the code of conduct comes into effect on Friday, and that the proposals contained in the ordinance are not non-controversial. He noted that the ordinance was sent for his signature at 2.30 pm on Wednesday. It may be recalled that one such ordinance on the issue had been returned unsigned by the erstwhile Governor, T N Chaturvedi in 2007. The implementation of the act was thereafter kept in abeyance, after the High Court ordered for the same, while hearing a public interest petition.

While minister R Ashok has accused the JDS of having a hand in blocking the ordinance, Rajiv Chandrashekhar, a Rajya Sabha member from the state, elected with the BJP support, has expressed his strong opposition to giving a blanket approval to illegal constructions through the ordinance. Speaking after submitting a report of the ‘Plan Bengaluru – 2020’ under the ‘Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development Task Force’ making several recommendations for a planned growth of the city and recommending for the reviewing of the status every year to the Chief Minister on Thursday, he opined that regularizing all kinds of irregularities through an ordinance does not augur well for the planned growth of the city.