Palemar expresses willingness to resign if proven guilty

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Jul 10: District-in-charge Minister Krishna J. Palemar, who is also the state minister for ports and environment, said that he is willing to resign if the accusations leveled against him regarding the illegal export of iron ore from the port of Belekeri are proved to be true. He was speaking to reporters at a press conference held on July 10, Saturday.

Clarifying the matter further, he said that he had recommended the suspension of Forest Officer Gokul, who had confiscated the illegal iron ore, for “irresponsible behavior” after he came to know that the ore was missing. He said that Gokul had failed to turn up for the meeting convened to discuss the issue of the missing iron ore, owing to which he had written to the chief minister in a bid to understand more about the situation.

The COD and the Lokayukta will be soon submitting their reports, he said and added that he had announced in assembly that he will resign from his post if the allegations leveled against him are proved to the true.

Regarding the sea erosion problem, he said that the Asian Development bank has released Rs. 911 crore for solving the problem. Rs. 223 crore of it has been earmarked for the Ullal project to provide a permanent solution to the problem of sea erosion, and work is expected to start soon. The centre will bear 84.5 percent of the expenses and the state will bear 15.5 percent. This project will cover areas of sea erosion in places such as Udupi, Honnavar, Kidiyoor, Sasihitlu, Kumta, and so on.