‘Palemar’s name is on this plaque, but where is he?’ asks lok ayukta

It was the foundation stone laying ceremony for the new building of the lok ayukta office in the city.

Dismayed by the absentees and latecomers, lok ayukta Santosh Hegde said,  “Why do you put the names of the invitees on the stone plaque when they have failed to turn up? Don’t create confusion in the minds of the people in the name of protocol.”

He observed that the Mangalore district in-charge minister, Krishna Palemar’s name was etched on the plaque, but he was nowhere to be seen. “The officials would be a party to a public lie if they put on the stone plaque the name of the person who could not find time to grace such an important public function,” he said.

 “The lok ayukta is an important arm of democracy. It helps in purging the system of corruption.  But even on such an occasion, if the main functionary of the government could not find it convenient to attend, it does not augur well,” Hegde said.

 As chairman of the Karnataka State Coastal Development Authority, Nagaraja Shetty, walked in late, the loka yukta remarked, “Mr Shetty has come late to the function. The plaque should say, in brackets, in front of his name, that he arrived late.” The audience no longer knew whether the state’s watchdog was speaking in earnest.

Lok ayukta Hegde, however, spoke with some emotion and regret about the fact that the government had not been able to make land available for the office at a more central location.

“If the lok ayukta’s office were located centrally, near the district office, petitioners could report about corruption more easily. They might not have to travel much. I am dismayed that the government has granted the land to the Lokayukta’s office at the far end of the city. That distance is likely to defeat the very purpose of the Lokayukta,” he said. 

 It may be noted that the troubles that the state government has found itself in, on account of the mining industry, started in 2010 when eight lakh tonnes of illegal iron ore impounded by lok ayukta had vanished from the Belikeri port near Karwar. Krishna Palemar was the ports minister at that time. The incident caused the state government to fall from grace. It was a matter that the Lokayukta had taken it up for investigation.

However, officials were keen to establish that this was not the reason for the minister’s absence on Monday. “Palemar was not present at the function today as he was attending a pre-budget meeting with the chief minister in Bangalore. He had earlier expressed regret for not being present at the function,” an official clarified, on behalf of Mangalore’s district in-charge minister.