Minister Rai directs KHB in case challenging Padil project

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Oct 16, 2016: Seemingly ooting for  district offices complex at Padil, B. Ramanath Rai, Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada recently instructed KHB, Karnataka Housing Board  to implead in a case challenging the project.cThe case is before the National Green Tribunal now. The next hearing is on October 27.

The KHB is the agency that has been selected by the government for implementing the Rs. 41-crore project on 5.89-acre land. An activist has petitioned against the project coming up on the ‘deemed-to-be-forest land’ in the tribunal which in turn has directed the district administration to maintain the status quo. The district administration is a respondent in the case.

The land, though originally belongs to Karnataka State Forest Industries Corporation, has been transferred to the revenue department to facilitate the proposed project.  At a meeting to review progress of development works here recently, the Minister said some persons have been making efforts to ensure that the complex should not come up at Padil. At the same time, some others are sarcastically propagating that the complex still has not come up. But Padil is the ideal location for taking up the project.