Mangaluru: A memorial erected for late union minister and socialist leader George Fernandes at the Bejai Church cemetery here was inaugurated on Sunday.
The memorial, built on his mortal remains as per his religious customs, was inaugurated by Mangaluru bishop Peter Paul Saldanha. Speaking after blessing the memorial, Saldanha said the late leader always stood for the working class and fulfilled their dreams.
A son of Mangaluru, he moved to Mumbai and then to the national capital to work for different sections of people in the country, the bishop said.
He said Fernandes, a former Defence and Railway minister, had the extraordinary ability to dream big which resulted in the establishment of Konkan Railway project.
He knew the power of democracy and the pulse of the people, thereby earning powerful positions at the Centre.
Fernandes brother Micheal Fernandes, who also spoke, thanked the church and all others for erecting the memorial and urged the people to carry the late leaders work forward.
Church officials, former MLA J R Lobo and corporators were among those present on the occasion. Fernandes, who was born in Bejai in 1930, had an eventful career in national politics spanning decades.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha nine times and once to the Rajya Sabha. He died of Alzheimer's disease in 2019.
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Vadodara, Mar 29: A consumer forum in Gujarat's Vadodara district has imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on a local boutique for causing "mental trauma" to a woman by stitching her garments improperly, due to which she had to wear some other clothes during a wedding event in her family.
The Vadodara District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (additional), in its order passed on March 7, noted that the complainant woman had planned to wear the garments during her nephew's wedding.
In its order, the forum said that since these garments - three blouses and two dresses - were not stitched properly, it "must have ruined the excitement and caused mental trauma" to the woman.
"Hence, we order the boutique to pay Rs 5,000 to the complainant for causing mental harassment," it said.
It also ordered the boutique, La Vichitra, to pay Rs 3,000 that the woman had paid towards the stitching charges and Rs 2,000 towards legal costs.
As per the case details, one Deepika Dave of Ahmedabad had visited La Vichitra boutique in October 2017 to get three matching blouse pieces, which she received with three saris she purchased from another shop, stitched.
She also gave another blouse piece and two dresses of her daughter for stitching and paid Rs 5,000 for the stitching work to be done.
When Dave visited the shop again in November 2017 and tried them, she realised that all three blouses were not improperly stitched. Similarly, her daughter's two dresses were also not stitched properly.
When Dave asked the boutique owner to buy new blouse pieces for her and stitch them again with no extra cost, the owner refused, the order said.
The woman then approached the consumer forum and filed a complaint in August 2018. In her plea, Dave said she had purchased three saris in view of the wedding and paid Rs 10,800.
Through her complaint, she sought a compensation of Rs 13,200 claiming that because of the badly-stitched matching blouses, she could not wear those particular saris at the wedding event.
During the hearing, Dave submitted evidence of payment to the shop and also informed the forum that the owner had refunded Rs 2,000 out of Rs 5,000 paid for the stitching job.
As per the order, the opponent, despite getting the notice, neither remained present during the hearing nor challenged the claims made by the complainant through an affidavit.