Government trying to close Lokayukta office

BANGALORE: Former Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde on Saturday alleged that the state government is making all efforts to close the institution of Lokayukta.“The government is not able to close the institution of Lokayukta directly, which would draw flak from various quarters and hence they are trying indirect ways to make the institution toothless,” he charged while speaking at a meeting convened by like-minded people and various associations here on Saturday.Hegde said that he would support the Karnataka Jagruthi Janadolana, a movement spearheaded by Gandhian and freedom fighter H S Doreswamy, insisting  on the appointment of   Lokayukta.Hegde referred to the 26,000 pages illegal mining report which he had submitted to the government during his tenure and highlighted the efforts of his officers who had collated 40 lakh bank accounts to get the truth out. “All this was done to save thousands of poor lives, particularly in Sandur taluk. They wanted to take poison and die rather than go through the inhumane torture they were subjected to due to mining mafia,” he added.He also reiterated the point that the state exchequer has lost a huge amount as the mine owners paid just `27 per tonne of 64 FE grade for iron ore, that was sold for `5,000 to `6,000 per ton. “The royalty earned from it was meagre compared to the profits made by mining company owners,” Hegde said.Condemning the passive attitude of the chief minister for delaying the appointment of Lokayukta, Kodihalli Chandrashekhar of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha questioned, “It is not that we do not have single candidate for the post of Lokayukta in the State, if the government puts in little effort, they can be appointed at the earliest.” In the past decade, more than 36,000 farmers have committed suicide in the state, he said.“We have witnessed incidents like lathi-charge when the farmers went on to demand seeds. Such atrocities will be stopped if the Lokayukta is appointed,” he  observed.Former MLC A K Subbaiah, Dr M P Nadagoudar, state-president of JD (U), Samatha Sainik Dal president Venkatswamy, and other like-minded political parties and organisations were present.