BANGALORE: The State Government will issue within the next 15 days an order according more powers to the Lokayukta, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said at the silver jubilee celebrations of Vivekananda Degree College here on Wednesday.

The additional powers would bring all officials and politicians, including the Chief Minister, within purview of the Lokayukta.

"There were discussions on this subject and also a lot of pressure from the officials not to accord more powers. But the Cabinet sub-committee that met on Tuesday has decided to go ahead and issue the order," the Chief Minister said.

With this, the Janata Dal (S) and Bharatiya Janata Party would fulfil the 20-year-old demand for more powers to the Lokayukta, he claimed.

Stating that it was not possible for the Chief Minister alone to check corruption, Mr. Kumaraswamy said it was unfortunate that the legislature, bureaucracy and judiciary were also losing values. "You students are the country's future and are capable of changing the society if you have a spirit to fight against all odds," he said.

Action plan

The Government would soon convene a meeting of experts to chalk out an action plan to generate bio-fuel from sugarcane. This would help the sugarcane growers, who were facing severe losses, the Chief Minister said.

"Though a compensation package of Rs. 250 crore has been announced for these farmers, it is not enough. We will come out with an action plan in the next two months," he said.

Responding to the demand for allotment of land to the college, the Chief Minister assured the management that if ten per cent of the seats in the college were set aside for poor students, the Government would consider the demand.

Earlier, the Chief Minister unveiled a statue of Vivekananda.

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