Mangaluru: Mangaluru South MLA D Vedavyas Kamath has alleged that the government had misused the officials of the district administration in order to make “Bharath Bandh” successful in Dakshina Kannada district on Monday, September 9.
Addressing the reporters at Atal Seva Kendra in Kodialbail, Vedavyas said, ”Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district Sasikanth Senthil declared holiday for schools and colleges after Congress party gave a nationwide bandh call. Meanwhile, KSRTC buses also did not ply anywhere which caused a lot of inconvenience to the commuters. Besides that, the Road Transport Authority (RTA) ensured that no commercial vehicles like taxi, autorickshaw among others provided service during the bundh. Though the Congress workers indulged in forced shut-downs in some places, the police department did not arrest them, which shows that the government departments are being misused in district”, he informed.
‘Furnish details of arrested people’
Condemning the move of the police department, Vedavyas said, ”When BJP had called for a bandh, a couple of months ago, the police department had detained the leaders of the party, as a precautionary measure to ensure peace in the district. But, why didn’t the department detain the Congress leaders despite them forcing the people to shut their business establishments and disrupted the vehicular movement? Instead of detaining those who engaged in forcible bandh, police threatened BJP activists for no reason. The Commissioner of Police should furnish details about the arrested persons who forced the general public to support the bandh call and who engaged in forcible bundh”, he stressed adding that BJP will hold a strong protest in coming days if police department failed to give details on the same.
Hospital canteen forced to shut down
Informing about the inconveniences faced by the public during the bundh Vedavyas said, ”Protesters also forced to shut down the hospital canteen, which is located near Jyothi circle. Besides that protesters blocked the road for an hour, which resulted in lot of inconveniences to the commuters a woman was forcibly alighted from the autorickshaw by the protesters, while she was heading towards a private hospital, forcing her to support the bundh. “, he said.
What is the stand of U T Khader now?
Recalling the words of district in-charge Minister U.T Khader who had claimed that the people who had called for bundh should be beaten up by chappal ( footwear), while BJP had called for bundh recently, Vedavyas Kamath said, “Khader should remind his own words. I want to ask with Khader that what he wants to say to those who give bundh call now “, he questioned.
BJP leaders like Ravishankar Mijar, Nithin Kumar, Divakar,, Roopa D. Bangera, Premananda Shetty, Gladwin, Ramesh Kandettu among others were present.
MLA Vedavyas portrays social responsibility towards the bandh affected
As the coastal city experiences mixed response for Bharath Bandh call, the city had some of the hotels and shops forcefully closed by the Congress workers. Observing the difficulties faced by the commoners, Mangaluru Constituency BJP MLA Vedvyas Kamath along with the BJP party workers made arrangements for pulao (rice preparation) and pure drinking water, which could serve around 1000 people. The servings were observed in KSRTC bus stand, Hampankatta old bus stand, railway station and several other places.
Later, speaking to the reporters, MLA Kamath blamed the Congress party saying, “Congress party has misused the district administration. All hotels were shut down forcefully and stones were pelted at some of the hotels. Due to this people had no option left but starve.”
“I have done my duty as an MLA by meeting the necessity of the people. The Congress party should have conducted the protest in an organised manner, but their forceful move has created distress among the people”, he added.
BJP leaders Rajesh Shetty, Vasanth J Poojary and Muralidhar Nayak among others were present.
