Cong seeks all-party meet on border dispute

Bangalore, Apr 21 (UNI) Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly N Dharam Singh today strongly urged the State Government to convene an all-party meeting over the border issue with neighbouring Maharashtra.

Addressing a press conference here, he alleged that the JD(S)-BJP coalition Government in the State remained a mute spectator to the pro-active pressure tactics being adopted by Maharashtra politicians irrespective of political leanings, on the Centre to settle the issue in their favour. The Maharashtra leaders, including six Union Ministers, were even planning to take a delegation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue. In this backdrop, there was an immediate need to counter Maharashtra's move, he said.

Mr Singh said the Congress in the State had always maintained that the implementation of the Mahajan Commission report was the only solution to the row and successive Governments in the State had stuck to it. The Government's silence would prove disastrous to the interests of the State, especially as the situation in the border areas was ''dangerous''.

About the Supreme Court's judgement on the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project, he claimed that the previous Government, headed by him, had taken the issue to the apex court following the pressure exerted by coalition partner JD(S). ''With the apex court deciding the issue comprehensively, the State Government must honour it and extend all cooperation for the implementation of the project,'' he added.

Terming as ''unconstitutional'' the Karnataka Government's move to dilute the powers of panchayats by appointing Legislators concerned as head of Ashraya Committees which select beneficiaries for providing housing sites at the taluk level, he urged the Government to desist from the move and leave the issues to be decided by the panchayats. He warned that his party would launch an agitation if the Government failed to respond positively.

On the alleged grant of over 5,000 acres of land in and around Bangalore to four Mumbai-based land developors, Mr Singh wondered why the State Government hurried through clearing the projects without considering the adverse impacts on the farmers who would lose their land. He asked why former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, who had raised objections to granting land to IT major Infosys, was maintaining silence on the subject.

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