CM Siddaramaiah’s son in soup over prime land allocation

www.mangaloretoday.com

Bengaluru, April 16, 2016: It pays to have to powerful friends! Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah - who was cornered by his political rivals after a company in which his son, Dr Yathindra S, is a director, won a coveted bid to set up a lab in a government hospital - is in for more trouble. It has been found that Yathindra’s business partner was allotted prime land in Bengaluru, where the real estate prices have hit the sky, allegedly in violation of rules by the Congress ruled government in Karnataka.

Ambedkar Yuva Sene, a NGO, has filed a complaint with the newly-created Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to probe the alleged preferential allotment of the land, in which Dr Rajesh Gowda, friend and business associate of Yathindra, is a partner. He has contended that the allotment of land has caused a loss of crores to the government.

The land (2.19 acres) was allotted near the Hebbal flyover this January to Messrs Shanta Industrial Enterprises, in which Rajesh Gowda is a partner, according to the NGO.

Incidentally, Rajesh Gowda and Yathindra are on the Board of Matrix Imaging Solutions Pvt Ltd., which won the bid to set up the clinical laboratory and radio diagnosis and imaging services at the government-run Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute. This deal is under scanner because of allegations that Matrix Imaging Solutions may have been favoured by the government on different grounds.

Now, the allotment of alternative land in the 16-year-old case, has given rise to several suspicions because not everyone, who lost land to government projects, have been shown such sympathy by those in power. The NGO has alleged conflict of interest in the allotment of land to Shanta Enterprises.

According to Ambedkar Yuva Sene President H Kodandaramu, the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) had acquired 232,008 square feet of land (Survey Nos 174 & 175, Kethamaranahalli, Mahalakshmi Layout & Survey No 59 in Yeshwanthapura) in 1977 to develop residential townships.

However, over the period of time, Shanta Enterprises, which claimed ownership of that land, questioned the acquisition by the BDA. But, the BDA maintained that it followed rules and regulations while acquiring the land, and offered compensation to the firm. The CM has not reacted to the latest allegations.

Sources in the CM’s office pointed out that the allotment of the said land to Shanta Enterprises had been questioned by a few individuals in court, which upheld the BDA’s decision. But it is to be seen if the ACB, which is under the control of the CM, will probe the latest complaint.