Junket: Minister armtwists pollution board
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The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) chairman was invited for a conference in Germany. but he did not accept the invitation presuming the board did not have enough funds to bear his travel expenses.
But his decision proved to be a blessing in disguise for state environment minister Sogadu Shivanna who has used the opportunity to visit Germany amidst opposition from board officials.
Interestingly, it was the state government which came to the rescue of Mr Shivanna as its order has forced the board to pay for the minister’s Germany trip even though its officials were against it.
The minister was forced to leave out his personal assistant (PS) Mr Gangadhar from his Germany trip after KSPCB chairman Dr Ayi Vaman N. Acharya declined to bear his expenditure from the board’s coffers.
According to sources at the KSPCB, the board recently received an invitation from a German organization to participate in its programme.
But board chairman Dr Vaman Acharya declined the invitation and decided not to send any representatives from the board as it could lead to expenditure running into a few lakhs.
Now, minister Shivanna is attending the conference at the board’s cost. KSPCB member secretary H.P. Prakash is also attending the conference along with the minister.
According to highly placed sources in the KSPCB, as board officials did not agree to bear the minister’s trip, he has come out with a government order directing the board to pay for his trip.
“The incident has created bad blood between the minister and KSPCB officials who were against the misuse of public money. Actually Mr Shivanna wanted to take his PS Mr Gangadhar also to Germany. But the board rejected the proposal,” said an officer.
“As per the KSPCB website, the minister is not a member of the board and no one is aware how the board can sponsor a non-members foreign trip,” he said.
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