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Rice scam: legislators told to own up responsibility

By Our Correspondent

CHIKMAGALUR, JULY 3. Elected representatives should share the blame for the rice scam, B.L. Shankar, former Chairman of the Legislative Council, said here today. Mr. Shankar told presspersons that it was common knowledge that tanks were being desilted using machinery. He reiterated that officials should not be made scapegoats in this issue.

Noting that the misuse of foodgrains under the drought relief work was not confined to Karnataka alone, he alleged that the maximum number of irregularities had occurred in Andhra Pradesh. As much as 42 lakh tonnes of foodgrains allotted to Karnataka had been utilised for creating many assets such as flyovers, airstrips, dams, and roads, he added. Mr. Shankar said the entire quantity of foodgrains had not been misused and action should be taken wherever development works had not been implemented.

He regretted that all works taken up under the drought relief scheme had come to a standstill. Defending the decision of the Centre to dismiss governors in four States, Mr. Shankar said the President did not have the power to take an independent decision and he only acted on the recommendation of the Union Government.

He alleged that A.B. Vajpayee and L.K. Advani had been a part of a Government that had changed all governors in the country in 1978. A constitutional amendment was required to change the existing system, he said. Mr. Shankar deplored the interference of MLAs in the functioning of the panchayat institutions. He alleged that non-Congress legislators in the Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency were usurping the powers of the panchayat members particularly in distributing benefits under government schemes.

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