Minister has close shave

Mandya: District in-charge minister K C Narayanagowda had a narrow escape on Sunday, after boulders almost hit his convoy near Bankapura village in Nagamangala taluk. According to police, when Narayanagowda’s convoy was moving towards KR Pete, rocks were blasted for highway construction works, which caused the boulders to fly into the air and fall on to the road the minister’s convoy was moving on.
Narayanagowda vented his anger at contractor Srinivas and his workmen for carrying out the work in the daytime, without taking precautionary measures like stopping traffic on the road. He directed the police to take action against the contractor.
A senior police officer said that Srinivas, to whom the work was entrusted under the Karnataka State Highway Improvement Project (KSHIP), was taken into custody and booked under relevant provisions of the penal code as well Explosives Act. “We booked him for negligence which could have caused death, and invoked relevant provisions of the Explosives Act as well,” the officer said.