Here are the big stories from Karnataka today

Karnataka Today newsletter: BJP lays seige to CM’s office over ST corporation and MUDA scams, and more

Demanding a CBI probe into alleged financial irregularities in Maharshi Valmiki ST Development Corporation and Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), the opposition BJP upped ante by trying to lay siege to CM Siddaramaiah’s official residence in Bengaluru seeking his resignation. Police stopped the BJP leaders and workers who were marching on July 3, and arrested them. 

BJP State president B. Y. Vijayendra, who led the protest, alleged that large-scale fraud to the tune of ₹4,000 crore in MUDA in the CM’s home district of Mysuru could not have taken place without Siddaramaiah’s knowledge. Fearing tampering of the files concerned, he demanded that the probe be handed over to any Central investigation agency. 

Walking on the streets of Bengaluru has turned into a scary affair owing to dangling wires and exposed electricity infrastructure. In many localities, tangled wires can be seen dangling from electricity poles and even streetlight poles. At times, cables snap and fall on the pavement making pedestrians apprehensive about walking on footpaths. 

Apart from the danger posed by wires, the doors of several Ring Main Units (RMU), which are set up on footpaths, are open. It is not unusual for wires to be sneaking out of them. On many transformers, the doors of control boxes are open. Areas reporting complaints include Basavanagudi, Shivajinagar, Sadashivnagar, Hebbal, Indiranagar, Majestic, Jakkur, Yeshwantpur and Rajajinagar. 

Shivamogga Lok Sabha member B.Y. Raghavendra met Union Minister for Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav in Delhi on July 3. He appealed to the Minister to drop the objections to the renewal of lease of forest land to the Mysore Paper Mills (MPM) in Bhadravati in Shivamogga district of Karnataka.

The MP submitted a letter stating that the MPM, whose lease for 20,005.42 hectares of forest land was renewed in 2020, had not been able to harvest pulpwood due to the objections from the Union Government. This had affected the company and the people depending on it. The forest land had been leased to the company since 1980 for captive pulpwood plantations.

Two workers were trapped in debris after earth from the retaining wall of a construction site of a multi-story building caved in at Balmatta, in the heart of Mangaluru city, on July 3. One of them was rescued while efforts are under way to locate the other worker.