His only aim was to save the lake from pollution. U V Singh, chief conservator of forests, who heads the Lake Development Authority (LDA), was assaulted on Sunday by a corporator. But this is not his first such encounter — Singh was attacked by mining lords and the eucalyptus mafia earlier. As a crusader of lakes, he fears that all water bodies in Bangalore are under attack from a waste water mafia which is polluting lakes.
For the full report in the TOI, click here, and for the entire story on the illegal disposal of waste into lakes, through a nexus between some corrupt officials of the BWSSB and the waste disposal mafia headed by the Ramaswamy Palya (Ward no: 62) corporator, Mr N Chandra, click here and here.
The biggest learning from the exercise is how such joint action by citizens motivates and emboldens the dedicated officers in the government into taking requisite action to check-mate the moves of corrupt lot who have been bought off by the land-sharks. Hats off to these government officials too.
The reference in the above excerpts from a posting on the Maestrikere saga (accessible here), was to none other than Dr Singh. May his tribe increase.
Meanwhile, the indefatigable Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde has stated that "After filing an FIR, if the BBMP does not suspend the corporator, I am going to go after the institution. I don’t care even if they move privilege move against me. However, I have decided to take this case to its logical end, even if I have to fight the case after my retirement". For that report in the TOI, click here.
Justice Hegde is already the pride of Karnataka, in fact the nation itself. If only he can get one more term as the Lokayukta, I am sure Karnataka can become a lot cleaner.
Muralidhar Rao
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And, our Mayor chooses to find fault!
Taking exception to mayor S K Nataraj’s statement that Singh should have gone for the inspection in uniform, used government vehicle and should have been assisted by police during the investigation, Justice Hegde said: “These vague statements are made to safeguard the accused corporator. Singh needs no uniform. He should be appreciated for what he has done and not simply blamed,’’ Hegde added.
Meanwhile, police said they have no clues about the whereabouts of the Congress corporator, though according to sources, Chandra was found in his ward office on Tuesday.
For the full report in the ToI, click here.
I happened to meet Dr Singh subsequently at a social event. When I asked him why he ventured out alone, considering the risks involved, he said that he wanted to avoid all risks of the information leaking, and his not being able to catch the culprits red-handed.
Well, that's the man! On a Sunday afternoon, when the politicos are celebrating their 1000 days of being in power (put largely to mis-use), Dr Singh puts his life to risk to check the misdeeds of a politico (and his henchmen), who has been harming the interests of the very citizens who have elected him. And, this was not the first Sunday afternoon that Dr Singh had spent this way. On the earlier occasions, perhaps he had gone in his official car, and donning his uniform too. And, apparently, that gave him away, and the culprits vamoused from the scene. But, the diligent officer that he is, he persisted, and eventually caught them red-handed.
And, the irony of it all is that our 'worshipful' Mayor seems to find fault with Dr Singh for not giving 'advance notice' to the culprits. The present incumbent has certainly added another good reason for dropping titles such as 'worshipful' when referring to the Mayor.
On my part, I gave my phone number to Dr Singh and told him to contact me whenever he wanted to go such trips, and one of us from our Koramangala group, would be happy to accompany him, just for moral support, if nothing else.
Can't a RTI be filed to ask the explaination
Murali Sir.
You are already an expert, but just asking whether an RTI can be filed to ask for an explaination as to why police is not able to catch him?
And also, if the corporator is absconding, then this itself shows that he is not at all clean (Its all visible, no proof needed but this is for Mr. Mayor who is trying to save him), and he himself should resign taking moral responsiblity, and if not, then Mayor and other authorities should take stern action to suspend him.
Deepak