Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa‘s alacrity in announcing the allotment of 50’x80’ house sites to each member of the World Cup winning cricket team is not surprising—nor is the tepid reaction to it. Politicians revel in making grand gestures, and a sentimental public applauds silently.
Still, with due respect to the achievement of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his boys, the question must be asked: should a bunch of players who will not have a shortfall of anything for the rest of their lives be gifted this largesse, especially when not a single member of the team hails either from Bangalore or Karnataka.
The other question to ask is: is 4,000 square feet of land the only way to honour an achievement?
The charitable view of such a gesture is that Yediyurappa is not the first CM to see “returns” in it. Ramakrishna Hegde gave away plots to a whole bunch of artists and artistes, including a TV newsreader, to encourage them to make Bangalore their home and add to its cultural lustre. Closer home, S.M. Krishna gave away dozens of plots to journalists, obviously not for winning the World Cup.
But that was in another era; this is 2011. Land is at a premium. Bangalore is a magnet for all comers, but is not the only one. So should the cricketers be gifted land without question, especially if they do not use it for their own purpose?
Also read: What’s the best way to say, well done, keep it up?
churumuri 
BDA sites can and should be given ONLY IF the players relocate to Bangalore (even after retirement from active cricket). Imagine the boost of motivation young kids will get if they see Dhoni or Sehwag as their neighbour.
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NEVER!
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This is one of the best decisions taken by Yediyurappa. All other states have decided to give away some cash to these players, whereas by gifting sites Karantaka might become successful in encouraging some of these players to shift base to Bangalore. Even if couple of these players eventually settle down in Bangalore, it will be a good addition to the cities talent pool.
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Our CM can not think beyond ‘real estate’. Having immersed himself in RE scams he can only think of RE as a way to reward.
That’s how he rewarded his sons, family and friends too!!
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discretionary powers!!!!!!
most total and naked graft.
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Hmm, reading a couple of comments here has given me a new perspective on this. It is absolutely right that having Sehwag or Dhoni or Yuvraj as a neighbour will be really something!
I agree, sites if they relocate to Bangalore :D
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Have seen farmland being gobbled up over the course of last 2 decades around namma Bengaluru at an alarming rate including near watersheds such as Thippegondanahalli. First off, I disagree with the policy of successive governments policy of usurping agricultural lands for formation of so-called `layouts` – why should poor farmers be made destitute to make place for houses of rich and upper middle class ? I would be happy if state government strictly prohibits construction of any more independent houses in urban areas, let there be apartment buildings only with features like rain water harvesting and solar lighting. We are all aware of tank beds being used to construct layouts and being flooded in monsoon due to the lay of the land. The day is not far off when there will be no food to eat and no water to drink in this great country once all land has been used up for houses, malls, amusement parks, etc. Mera Bharat mahaan! Of course voted no for land allottment to already rich cricketers, they are rich enough to purchase land if they desire to live in any city in this country.
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kurigalu saar kurigalu.
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Super decision. Yeddy knows that the site can be allotted on paper and then later on can be silently transferred to sonny boy.
Another land scam looming………..
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Congratulations to Team India for having won the ICC Cricket world cup in 2011.
Awards and recognitions are pouring in for the cricket players from all over the country.
BCCI announced 1 crore to each player and 50 lakh rupees to all the support staff.
The State Government of Delhi announced a cash price of 1 crore to its local players Virendra Sehwag, Ashish Nehra, Gautham Gambhir and Virat Kohli
The State government of Maharashtra announced a cash price of 1 crore to Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan, who are their local players
The State government of Uttar Pradesh announced the Manyavar Kanshiram International Sports Award for Piyush Chawla and Suresh Raina, who hail from Uttar Pradesh
The State government of Gujarat announced State’s highest sports award “Eklavya Puraskar” for their local boys, Yusuf Pathan and Munaf Patel
The only person who has overtaken all these recognitions is our Karnataka CM ,Mr Yeddyurappa. He has promised to gift each of the cricketer a 50*80 BDA Site in Bengaluru which will cost around 2 crore rupees each.
Does this not sound crazy? All the state governments are felicitating their local players but Mr Yeddy knowing that there wasn’t a single player from Karnataka in the world cup squad wants to denotify acres of land and gift the cricketers with sites worth 50-60 crores totally. Who has given the Karnataka government, the permission to spend the tax payers money atrociously
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If CM is ready to buy 15 sites for the entire Indian WC squad, he is most welcome but not at the cost of exchequer… Never for sure..
CM is talking of amending BDA Law, he needs to be aware of the fact that any such law is subject to judicial review.
He has already allotted over 100 sites from his drivers to security guard to some Jurno’s BDA need time to recover from this loss..
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ರಾಜ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಆರ್ಥಿಕ ಸಹಾಯಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಹಾತೊರೆಯುತ್ತಿರುವ ಅನೇಕ ಪ್ರತಿಭೆಗಳಿವೆ, ಅನೇಕ ನಾಡು ಕಟ್ಟುವ ಕೆಲಸಗಳಿವೆ, ಅನೇಕ ಸಮಸ್ಯೆಗಳಿವೆ. ಅವುಗಳಿಗೆ ಸರಕಾರದ ಸಹಾಯ ಸಿಗುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ, ಅಂಥದ್ರಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಥರ ಜನರ ದುಡ್ಡನ್ನು ಬಿಟ್ಟಿಯಾಗಿ, ಆಗಲೇ ನಿಮಿಷದ ಜಾಹೀರಾತಿಗೆ ಕೋಟಿ ಕೋಟಿ ಎಣಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವವರಿಗೆ, ತಮ್ಮ ಅತಿಯಾದ ಸ್ವಂತ ಭಾವನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಜೋತು ಬಿದ್ದು ದಾನ ಮಾಡುವುದು ತಪ್ಪಲ್ಲದೇ ಮತ್ತೇನು.?
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I really don’t think that any of them will think of relocating to the outskirts of Blore just because they have a free site. If they really want to relocate, they have more than enough money to buy a suitable house in the heart of the city.
Yeddy is completely useless.
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after ambani, dhoni is the second in the list of riches
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the colonel speaks sooth :)
probably BSY was taken aback to come across people who actually did their job and lest they set a bad example gave them free land to shut them up…
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There are scores of athletes in the state who have made their mark at the national and international level. Many have struggled to complete their education and are still struggling to make ends meet. Our sporting facilities are in dilapidated state. Yet, our CM (one of the worst we have seen) wants to throw approx 50 Cr as ‘gifts’ to cricketers who are already very very rich by any measure. He can’t think beyond real estate that has made him and his ilk very rich.
It is time to take away any such discretionary powers from our politicians who seem to live in a parallel world.
The world cup team members should exercise good judgement and refuse this largesse.
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One thing for sure.. it would make Vijay Mallya happy… he will probably try to buy all Indian players for the next IPL season.. I think he’s already working on it as Kingfisher has announced free lifetime travel to the team..!!
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hmmm, hope Raaghu’s name is not in that list :)
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Why not make all of them Hon’ble Ministers in the Karnataka government or at least nominate as MLAs, MLCs through some quota? Thank God, Vidhana Soudha was not allotted to them by partitioning it! The cricketers can easily afford to have a posh house or flat or villa or pent house anywhere in India with the money they earn through playing, awards, rewards and of course modelling. The Government is supposed to cater to the common people, who cannot afford shelter at the market rate. There are other ways to honour the sportsmen for the glory they bring. I read in newspaper that similar announcement was made for 1983 World Cup winners and only during S.M.Krishna’s tenure, Roget Binny was made as MLC to compensate non-allotment. Disgusting!
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The Government is supposed to cater to the common people, who cannot afford shelter at the market rate.
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A gift is a gift, people should quit whining. Next time you folks instead of gifting things which your relatives/friends can afford, you should gift them something which they can’t buy with the money they have, for eg. a Bentley…..
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>discretionary powers!!!!!!
>Who has given the Karnataka government, the permission to spend the tax payers money atrociously
>It is time to take away any such discretionary powers from our politicians
Alright, lets take away the discretionary powers from our politicians and give, ooops gift it to whom? This nation is full of anarchists…..
*******
I am sure some two penny dogooder will go to court with 1008 TV cameras to file a PIL.
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A Site for Guru Gary too !!
Is there any Shame left among the politicians?!
they might ask, “Shame… ?! What it ees ?! 40×60 na, orrr… 50×80 na ?!”
The moment Dhoni hit the last Six, Yeddi/Reddy’s eyes must have lit up, scheming up with the opportunity at hand to gram more land !! The glee almost showed on his face when he announced it on TV…
ella maNNina makkaLu…
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Avarappana mane site aagidhre kodthirlilla …yaardho duddu yellammana jaathre .
If Cricketers want they can buy Kumara Krupa guest house and this CM is the most shameless of all .
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Deepak makes sense.
This is how i see the events unfold.. allotments will be done. It will be a glittering ceremony costing no less than 25+ crores. Some Bollywood and Sandalwood starlets will gyrate to Munni and Sheela tunes. Bangalore palace is a possible venue. Advertisements to the tune of crores of rupees would be splashed across newspapers and TV media for atleast a week to signal this glorious event (‘abhootapoorva’ would be a term that will be much bandied about).
No cricketer would ever shift base to B’lore. After a while all the sites would be wheeled back to CM and Sons via suitably sophisticated benami transactions. Life will go on.
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ಯಾರದೋ ದುಡ್ಡು ಎಲ್ಲಮ್ಮನ ಜಾತ್ರೆ
or
ಯಾರದೋ ದುಡ್ಡು ಯಡ್ದಪ್ಪನ ಜಾತ್ರೆ
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This Yeddi is the most imbecile and useless CMs that the state has seen thus far. This decision needs to be challenged through a PIL.
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Can anything be more vulgar than this?
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With this announcement he was trying to make it a win win for himself. As he was burnt badly when he made land related decisions earlier, he would know that his moves would be carefully scrutinized. If the decision to allot sites to the cricketers is accepted, he gets some appreciation. If his decision is struck down or opposed, he can claim that he wanted to do good but was not allowed to do so.
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instead of bangalore why not dharwad or raichur. dhoni has cheated the Kar Govt run KSDL by not shooting for Mysore Sandal soap, which was his first commercial….
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instead of allocating free sites, the CM could have approved plans for building multi-purpose(yes, not cricket; of course!!) stadium in davangere, chitradurga or any other towns in the state. This would have ensured that we have a landmark to celebrate the victory and also something useful to the public!
ee matha, TN nalli iro temples ge dhana mado CM ge yelli irate astu buddhi..
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why cant these state governments get creative do something useful .. why not they donate to charity all the 1 crores in the name of cricketers..
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Winning the World Cup and hoisting India is the least they can do for having been selected to represent the country. There are individuals in other professions who are accomplished and are they accorded similar favours for excelling in their fields?
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Breaking News!
Now BSY has decided to give one acre to each player from PRERANA TRUST!
(sorry it’s still April!)
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I’m all for it :p But let me know before hand so that, i buy a site next to the crickters and resell it later. This way the Gov can help common man like me make some money out of it
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