From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Jun 23: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday asserted that there will be a total break to the ‘Commission Business’ under the Congress rule.
After meeting a delegation of Karnataka Contractors Association in Bengaluru, the Chief Minister said the financial indiscipline and commission in government contracts has caused huge financial difficulties and the government wants to completely halt the commission business.
Responding to the demand of the Association President Kempanna, who had first raised the issue of 40% commission under Basavaraj Bommai rule and had directly lodged complaints with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that was taken up by the Congress party, for reintroducing the Letter of Credit (LOC) that was prevalent during 2013 to 2018 under Congress rule, he said the government needs time to set right the economy and bring it back on rail.
On the demand for releasing funds of works executed as per contracts, Siddaramaiah said the State’s budget will be presented on July 7 when the legislature session meets from July 3.
The Chief Minister promised to convene a meeting of senior government officials, including those from Finance Department and BBMP, after the budget session and examine all the demands.
The Association brought to the notice of the Chief Minister said bills amounting to Rs 2,000 crore were pending in BBMP while the Urban Development Department had pending bills of Rs 1,500 crore. It demanded that all the pending bill amounts must be released and no-objection-certificates must be issued for claiming the amounts.
Along with Kempanna, office-bearers R Ambikapathi, G M Ravindra, Sankagowda Shani, Nagaraj, R Manjunath, Ramesh and others were present in the delegation.
Later, a delegation of the Federation of Wine Merchants Association called on the Chief Minister and requested that a high level coordination committee must be constituted to ensure better coordination between wine merchants and distilleries as well as retail excise dealers.
With 2,863 wine merchants operating in the State, the delegation said the business has come down, the Federation said for which the government promised to discuss the matter after the budget session of the legislature.
Chief Minister’s Political Secretary Govindaraju was present.
Gruhajyoti burden not passed on to industries
The Chief Minister assured the Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) that the hike in power tariff was due to the order of the Karnataka Energy Regulation Authority (KERC), which had taken the decision prior to the assembly election and announced the revision after the completion of the elections with retrospective effect from April 1.
“There is no connection between the power tariff hike and the implementation of the Gruhajyoti Guarantee of 200 units of free power to all domestic consumers as per the Congress party’s pre-election promise. The two are totally separate and it is wrong to attribute that the burden of Gruhajyoti scheme has been passed on industries,’’ he said.
The KERC decision was taken during the BJP rule but announced on the day of counting. ``Our government has nothing to do with the hike,’’ he said.
However, he promised to convene a separate meeting of the representatives of FKCCI, KASSIA, CII etc. and discuss the problems of the industries along with officials of Energy and Finance Departments.
The FKCCI delegation urged the government to reduce the power tariff on industries, especially those consuming high tension power, from 9% to 3% and also bring down the Fuel Escalation charges.
Energy Minister K J George, Chief Minister’s Political Secretaries Govindaraju, Naseer Ahmed, Additional Chief Secretary Gaurav Gupta and FKCCI office-bearers were present.