Karnataka: Rs 400 crore spent to keep 81-year-old Mysugar factory going!

Bengaluru: Heated exchanges between ruling and Opposition legislators marred a discussion on revival of 81-year-old Mysugar factory in the Council on Tuesday with the government admitting over Rs 400 crores were spent to keep the factory going.

In his reply to Mr Ashwathnarayan (BJP), sugar minister Mahadeva Prasad charged that the factory had slipped into a position from which its revival was impossible during the previous BJP rule. Irked by his statement, BJP members demanded an inquiry and to table the findings so that stringent action could be taken against the guilty.

Floor leader of JD (S), Basavaraj Horatti, urged the minister to order an inquiry into the functioning of all sugar mills over the last 20 years to establish truth.

Mr Mahadeva Prasad said a decision to start co-generation unit at Mysugar was taken in 2002 to generate around 30 MW of power. The crushing capacity of 'A' and 'B' units was 2,500 tons a day but they never worked to capacity due to technical problems.

In the last two years, the government had spent Rs 420 crores on machine maintenance but they broke down frequently due to mismanagement. The Lokayukta has commenced an inquiry following reports of embezzlement of funds, he added.

245 industry MoUs in state in last 3 years: Siddaramaiah

The state government said it has signed MoUs with various companies in the last three years for setting up 245 heavy and medium scale industries in Karnataka. In a written reply to Narayanaswamy S.N., Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that from 59 implemented MoU projects there was an investment of about Rs 27,071.65 crores with job opportunity for 29,556 people.

To a question whether any reservation rules have been followed while giving jobs, he said they were not applicable to private companies, adding Kannadigas had been given preference.