Protests in Shirali against National Highway widening; Local BJP MLA extends support
Bhatkal: Hundreds of locals on Friday morning gathered and staged dharna on the National Highway 66 of Shirali in Bhatkal Taluka against the NH widening work that began yesterday.
On Thursday, when the IRB officials began the NH widening work after it was halted for few weeks owing to protests by the locals, the locals along with Shirali Gram Panchayath officials once again started protesting the widening of NH only to 30m, against 45 meters which was initially decided.
But under the protection of local police, the IRB officials began the work as per the orders from the Deputy Commissioner of Uttara Kannada District SS Nakul.
The protesters then had turned to Bhatkal-Honnavar MLA Sunil Naik, who despite being in Bengaluru for budget session, tried to intervene and stop the work by making calls to Bhatkal Assistant Commissioner Sajid Ahmed Mulla, who refused to stop the work, citing orders from DC.
Followed by which, the locals had announced Dharna and protests on Friday, to which BJP MLA Sunil Naik had also extended support but had excused himself from being present at the protest as he was in Bengaluru for assembly session.
On Friday morning, security was beefed up in Shirali, under the supervision of Bhatkal DySP Valentine D’Souza and CPI Ganesh KL.
Amidst protests and Dharna, the IRB officials continued their work.
Bhatkal CPI Ganesh KL, while speaking to Vartha Bharti, said “The road work is going on smoothly, meanwhile the dharna of locals is also going on, they have said they will continue the dharna until their demands are met, daily till 6.pm in the evening. We have adequate security in place, and we believe their will no untoward incident during the whole issue”.
Why protests?
The locals of Shirali and Gram Panchayath officials have long stood against the widening of NH in Shirali to 30mtrs while it was initially proposed to be widened to 45mtrs.
The locals alleges that a few businessmen, whose properties would have been demolished for the widening of the work, used their political powers and influence to restrict the widening to 30mtrs, whereas the poor people in the outskirts of the city had already lost their properties as in the outskirts of the city the widening will be 45mtrs, even when widening of 45mtrs is mainly required inside the town limits as the town has a very much potential of developing in years to come.
MLA Sunil Naik was also quoted by local media Bhatkallys.com as saying “There is a need of widening the NH to 45 meters as Shirali in future days has great potential to get developed. Though for the past 6-7 months I have contacted the district in-charge minister, District Administration and all the concerned departments, it did not yield any results. So, I extend my support to the protest on widening of the road”.
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BJP will hold protest till money under Gruha Lakshmi scheme is disbursed: Ashoka
Bengaluru (PTI): BJP leader R Ashoka on Wednesday said that the party would launch a protest against the non-disbursal of money under Gruha Lakshmi scheme for the months of February and March this year.
He also said that the party would request Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot not to give his assent to the Karnataka Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention) Bill, which was cleared by both the houses – Legislative Assembly and Council, during the recently concluded winter session in Belagavi.
Speaking to reporters here, the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, said there were high expectations that the government would announce big schemes for the North Karnataka during the Belagavi session.
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However, instead of announcing packages for North Karnataka, funds were curtailed, he said.
"Gruha Lakshmi scheme money to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore for the months of February and March could not be given to the beneficiaries. The government had dodged it. The finance department had covered it up. Our question is whether there was no money in the previous fiscal and why the government hid it," Ashoka said.
Gruha Lakshmi scheme is one of the five pre-poll guarantees of the state government. It promises Rs 2,000 per month to the women head of the families belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS).
Ashoka said if the government had money then it would have disbursed it.
"We want to know whether the government wanted to cheat people by not giving money or it did not have money,' the BJP leader said.
He added that the BJP waited for three days for Woman and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar to respond during the assembly session as 1.26 crore families were anxiously waiting for the money.
"This is a big scam. Even today, the minister has not uttered a word on the Gruha Lakshmi money for the months of February and March. She has stopped coming to Bengaluru. Our question is whether that was part of the budget. If yes, then where has the money gone?" he sought to know.
Ashoka said, "The BJP will hold protests till the money is disbursed to the beneficiaries. We obtained details of eight to 10 districts. When we approached other districts, the ministers threatened the district authorities not to share details."
Regarding the Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention) Bill, he said it was passed in a hurry without any discussion in both the Houses.
"This was an important bill because it takes away people’s freedom of expression. The government, which brought the Emergency taking away the personal liberties of people and jailing opposition members, journalists and judges, is once again resorting to the same attempt," Ashoka alleged. He was apparently referring to Emergency imposed by the Congress government led by Indira Gandhi in 1975.
According to him, no one can draw cartoons or expose scams once the bill becomes a law.
"There is nothing to feel good about this bill. People will not be able to air their woes on civic problems, rising crime and corruption. It is very clear that the government is targeting the opposition in order to control it," he alleged.
The BJP leader said the party will approach Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on his return from Madhya Pradesh and explain to him how this law is going to affect people and create problems for freedom of expression.
"We will persuade the Governor not to sign this bill. This is the Congress party’s law to put the opposition in jail. We will tell him that there is nothing in it to benefit society," he added.
