K'taka Legislature session to be convened from Jan 25

Bangalore, Dec 28 (UNI) The maiden session of the Karnataka Legislature in 2007 will begin on January 25 and last for 15 days.

The State Cabinet today decided to recommend to Governor T N Chaturvedi to convene the Legislature on January 25.

In a post-Cabinet media briefing here, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj S Horatti said the session would begin with the Governor's address to the joint session of the Legislature.

The Cabinet also decided to reject the clemency petition of a seer of a mutt at Hunnur village in Bagalkot district, who was sentenced to death by the district and sessions judge for having raped and murdered a 12-year-old girl, taking into consideration the heinousness of the crime.

He said the convict, Babural Tinaki, had submitted a mercy petition to the President, appealing for commuting the punishment from death to life sentence, which was forwarded to the Karnataka Governor who inturn referred it to the State Cabinet.

Mr Horatti said the Cabinet approved the Greater Bangalore plan, which envisaged to increase the number of wards from 100 to 150 after including seven TMCs around the city. The Cabinet empowered Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to take a final decision on the issue. Over 133 objections were received from the residents in this regard, but they were rejected by the Cabinet, he added.

He said the State was at present facing a shortage of 20 per cent of the total demand for electricity and a Cabinet Sub-Committee was formed under the chairmanship of the Deputy Chief Minister to decide on whether to go in for external purchase or impose power shedding.

Mr Horatti said the State Government also decided to permit the Mysore Urban Development Authority to construct an international standard convention centre in the name of Nalmadi Krishnaraya Wadiyar near Paduvaranahalli in Mysore. The entire expenditure would be met by the MUDA.

The Cabinet also decided to constitute a Sub-Committee to take a decision on the Centre's suggestion to revamp Agriculture Credit Cooperative Societies which might help the State to save about Rs 450 crore, he said, adding that the Cabinet decided to spend Rs 350 crore in five years to improve the traffic situation in the city.

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