Mangaluru : Former minister Krishna J Palemar said that by providing incomplete information on the relaxation in Forms 9 and 11, Congress have played a hoax on people.

Addressing mediapersons in Mangaluru on Monday, Palemar said that the leaders – including District In-charge Minister B Ramanath Rai, Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake and MLC Ivan D’Souza – have provided only half the information that the Form 9/11 rules of Land Revenue Act have been relaxed.

“There is, however, no such order issued by the State government. In reality, the government has only given a notification – dated January 21 – and subsequently a circular on February 3, providing only temporary relaxation for 9-11 (B) only, and applicable to Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Shivamogga and Kodagu districts. This provides only temporary relaxation from e-swathu software, until next orders. The land holders, who generally are the farmers, cannot convert or sell the land and the relaxation does not serve any purpose,” he said.

He further said that there is acute shortage of sand in the district. “The government projects also have become stagnant due to shortage of sand. There is restriction for manual sand mining, but, sand is mined using machines and illegally transported to Bengaluru continuously. The district administration has done nothing to solve the problem,” he said and alleged that the allies of the district in-charge minister are themselves engaged in the illegal sand mining business. He urged the district administration to release sand for construction of houses for the poor.

He questioned the silence of the senior leaders of Congress regarding the problem of Form 9/11 and sand shortage.

Palemar urged that the skill games, which are being conducted in many parts of the City, should be stopped.

Responding to a query, he expressed the confidence of the BJP winning 25 Zilla Panchayat seats in the district.