Mangaluru: MP Nalin Kumar Kateel has cautioned of staging an intense protest if the problems pertaining to shortage of sand, conversion of land, problems of arecanut growers among other problems were not rectified within four days from today.
Addressing the reporters at district BJP office on Friday, October 26, Nalin said, “Dakshina Kannada district is facing an acute shortage of sand, due to which many construction works have been pending. As `drought of sand` situation is prevailing in the district those into construction works and sand mining have become jobless”, he said.
Listing out various problems of the people Nalin said, “As there are some strict guidelines on conversion of land, those who sell, buy and construct buildings on their lands have been facing problems. Though the arecanut crops wee destroyed due to fruit-rot disease, the government has not released compensation to the farmers. As there is a ban on the movement of heavy vehicles through Shiradi ghat, the cost of the vegetables and other necessary items is now very high. Though the deputy commissioner of our district has consented to allow heavy vehicles on Shiradi ghat, the DC of Hassan has objected to the same. Hence, both DCs should convene a meeting and take immediate measures to ensure that no one suffers due to this. If these problems are not rectified within 3-4 days, the BJP will hold a severe protest”, he said.
‘Thokkottu and Pumpwell flyovers to be completed by December and January respectively’
Speaking about the ongoing works of Thokkottu and Pumpwell flyovers, Nalin said, “Though there were some problems pertaining to the construction of flyovers at both Pumpwell and Thokkottu, they have been resolved now and work is in progress. As per our expectation, Thokkottu flyover will be completed by the end of December and Pumpwell flyover by January end,” he said.
‘Oscar Fernandes is responsible for tollgate at Suratkal and Hejamady’
Nalin informed that he was against the collection of toll at Suratkal and that he had already consulted the Minister for Road Transport and Highways in this regard. As there are some legal complications regarding merging Suratkal tollgate with Hejamady tollgate, they need to be sorted out, he said. Meanwhile, Nalin alleged that the former union minister for Road Transport and Highways Oscar Fernandes was responsible for setting up tollgate at Suratkal and Hejamady. “Why the protesters who have been staging the protest against the tollgate at Suratkal were silent when tollgate was installed then?”, he questioned.
MLAs Y Bharath Shetty, Umanath Kotian, Sanjeeva Matandoor, district BJP General Secretary Captain Brijesh Chowta and Spokesperson Harikrishna Bantwal among others were present.
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