Bengaluru: The State cabinet on Monday extended the term of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing illegal mining in Karnataka by one year. The present term of the SIT would come to an end on January 24, 2016.
Sources said the Lokayukta had requested the government to extend the term of SIT as investigation was not complete. Though SIT had completed filing chargesheet on illegal mining in Ballari region, the chargesheet for Tumakuru and Chitradurga are still pending. Many big names are under the scanner of SIT, sources said.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet deferred a proposal from the forest department to reduce the extend of deemed forest identified by the reconstituted expert committee from 9.94 lakh hectares to five lakh hectares. After a long debate, the government asked the department to review its decision and bring it before the next cabinet meeting. The next cabinet decision would be placed before the Supreme Court for approval, sources said.
The Cabinet approved a proposal by the Education department for distributing shoes and socks to 48 lakh schoolchildren studying in government schools from the next academic year. Instead of floating tenders for the entire supply, which would take time, the cabinet has decided to disburse the money to the respective school management committees, which would oversee distribution of shoes and socks.
The students from first standard to sixth would be allotted Rs225, while the allocation would be Rs250 for the students of seventh and eighth standard. The ninth and tenth standard students would be given Rs 275 each.
The government decided to distribute cycles to students of eighth standard for this academic year at a cost of Rs 188 crore.
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