Bengaluru: The State Cabinet on Wednesday decided to extend the term of Special Investigation Term (SIT) of Lokayukta investigating cases pertaining to illegal mining of iron ore.
“The Cabinet meet chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has decided to extend the term of the SIT by one year from January 24, 2018 to January 23, 2019,’’ Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T.B. Jayachandra told media persons here.
The minister said the Cabinet has also decided to handover the 76 cases that were closed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
“The SIT will probe the cases that were closed by the CBI. These are related to the export of iron ore from Karwar and Mangaluru in Karnataka and Panjim in Goa,’’ the minister said.
He said the SIT would reopen the cases relating to 1,028 shipments of iron ore (2,85,98,975 metric tonnes) from Mangaluru, Karwar and Panjim. “Many companies, including Adani Enterprises Limited, are involved in illegal shipment of iron ore. The SIT has been asked to reopen all these cases,’’ he said.
The minister said the investigation is in progress in 26 cases and B report was submitted in 19 cases and prosecution launched in five cases while the court stayed the probe in two cases.
“The SIT has sufficient staff to commence the probe in 76 cases. As of now, there is not shortage for staff. We will provide the staff if the need arises in future,’’ the minister said.
Suburban rail service
The Cabinet gave its nod to allocate Rs 349 crore towards the proposed Bengaluru suburban rail service for the years 2018 and 2019.
The proposed suburban rail service is expected to cost Rs 1,745 crore and the state government and railways have to bear 20 per cent each of the total cost.
“We have allocated Rs 349 crore as the state government’s contribution. The railways will contribute similar amount and the remaining amount will be raised through a special purpose vehicle (SPV),’’ the minister said.
When completed, the suburban rail service will have 58 trains with 1800 to 2,000 passenger capacity each. “The suburban rail service will provide 116 services per day between Bengaluru and nearby cities such as Tumakuru, Mandya, Doddaballapur, Chikballapur and Bangarpet,’’ the minister said.
Rs 84 crore for B-TRAC
The Cabinet gave its nod to improve 363 traffic signals in Bengaluru to facilitate smooth movement of vehicular traffic.
“Funds will be allocated to upgrade 363 traffic signals to adaptive traffic signals. Around 100 traffic signals will have wide area traffic telematics servers. These works will be completed with Rs 84 crore,’’ he said.
The minister said the Cabinet has also decided to allocate Rs 20 crore for the development of Police Public School in Mysuru.
