Mangaluru: BJP district president Satish Kumpala launched a scathing attack on Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and the Congress-led Karnataka government, accusing them of rendering Mangaluru “ineffective” from early morning itself, not just post-7 pm as previously claimed.
Speaking to the media at a private event near Kolya, close to Thokkottu, Kumpala alleged that the government’s failure to ensure the availability of essential construction materials—such as laterite stones and sand—has crippled livelihoods and paralyzed the region’s infrastructure sector.
He criticized the government for ignoring Dakshina Kannada district and undermining the survival of daily wage workers. “People have been robbed of their jobs and food. Shivakumar once called Mangaluru useless after 7 pm, but today, it’s non-functional from dawn,” he said.
Kumpala pointed to a severe shortage of laterite stones halting work at temples, homes, and religious sites. He contrasted Kerala’s stone royalty rate of ₹32 per ton with Karnataka’s ₹282, questioning how legal quarry operators could survive such costs while illegal quarrying, allegedly by those close to Congress leaders, continues unchecked.
He further stated that despite promises of issuing quarrying licenses within 21 days, applicants have waited up to 8 months with no approvals. “Labourers are starving while the government targets legal operators and shields illegal ones,” he alleged.
Criticizing the state’s delayed response to recent unrest, Kumpala claimed that peace meetings were a post-crisis cover-up. He warned that if the government fails to act within a week, more mass protests will follow.