Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala says communal forces contained

Bengaluru: A day after Prime Minister, Narendra Modi's criticism of the law and order and "corruption" in the state during his visit to the city, Governor Vajubhai Vala gave a glowing account of the government's achievements in his address to the joint session of the  legislature on Monday, claiming it had taken effective steps to maintain law and order and ensure communal harmony.

"Sporadic incidents of communal violence have been firmly dealt with and my government continues to fight corruption in public service. A series of e-governance initiatives has increased the transparency and efficiency of public service," he asserted in  his speech delivered in Hindi .

Defending the setting up of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Mr Vala said it was responsible for  278 trap cases, 65 raids and 61 other cases and of the 106 cases sent to the government, prosecution had been sanctioned in 72. 

The Governor asserted the government was committed to getting Karnataka's legitimate share of  water from the Cauvery, Krishna and Mahadayi rivers and said it  had made an allocation of Rs 58,393 crore in the last five years for the water resources department and spent Rs 43,348 crore crore so till the end of December 2017,  creating an irrigation potential of 2.64 lakh hectares in the state. 

On employment and doing ease of business, Mr Vala said the government had steered the state from 11th position in 2013 to the first position among all states in investment intention in 2016 -17. "As per the industrial policy 2014-19, the state aims to attract investment of Rs 5 lakh crore and create employment opportunities for 15 lakh  persons. As many as 1869 projects were approved in the last four- and-a- half years with an investment of Rs 3.39 lakh crore and 1.89 lakh jobs were generated in the large industry segment, and 11.36 lakh jobs in the MSME sector," he added.