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Karnataka attracted about Rs 1 lakh crore of investments: CM

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Bengaluru: Karnataka attracted about Rs 1 lakh crore of investments during the first two years of his term, said Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

He was addressing the media at an event organised by the Press Club of Bangalore to mark the completion of two years of his term. This, despite some states like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana being more in the news on investments because of the many incentives extended to them by the Centre, and the tax benefits offered by the two states.

Karnataka has been ranked first for its healthy business climate and for attracting investments by the World Bank's Investment Climate Index. This is despite the incentives being extended to investors, such as e-commerce firms, by the newly-formed states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

"Karnataka continues to be the preferred investment destination for e-commerce firms like Amazon and Flipkart," Siddaramaiah said adding that they would not leave the state.

The state was the first to come out with an industrial policy and has introduced policies so as to sustain growth over the years.

Despite the skewness brought about the incentives extended to neighbouring states of AP and Telangana, the chief minister said, once the GST comes into force during 2015-16, such incentives will be neutralised as there would be a uniform tax system across the country.

Siddaramaiah expressed satisfaction over his two years' administration as chief minister of the state and said he has fulfilled 100 out of 165 promises made during the elections in May 2013 through the budgetary grants.

Facing fire from various quarters, especially the opposition parties for the clearing of encroachments that has left many people homeless, Siddaramaiah today threw the ball back into opposition's court and said it was during the period that the BJP-JD(S) combine ruled the state that many of the encroachments had taken place. Also, he said that the government will act against the officials responsible for clearing the projects and take strong action against them.

He added that those not guilty of being involved in any illegality, but had been duped by land sharks would be considered for rehabilitation. He refuted the Opposition charge that the government had turned a blind eye to the plight of those displaced by the demolitions.

He said, "Contrary to the allegations, we are working day and night to find solutions to the problems of the innocent."

Siddaramaiah said that the problem would not have become so complex had the BJP and the JD(S) prevented the encroachments when they were in power, adding that when the Congress came to power, the government handed over 10 lakes to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) so that it could develop them and protect them from encroachments. "The innocent are now suffering due to the lapses of the previous governments," he said.

On the plans to trifurcate the BBMP or the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike as it had grown too unwieldy, he said the situation would not have come to this if the area under the BBMP was not expanded by bringing so many areas under it, and expanding the BBMP jurisdiction from about 200 sq km to over 800 sq km.

"The garbage situation had become so bad only because of the unplanned expansion of the BBMP's jurisdiction without understanding the consequences of such a move," he said.

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