Ankola: Fishermen jump into sea protesting against commercial port in Keni
Ankola: Hundreds of fishermen in Keni village, most of whom were found to be women, protested on Monday, and also attempted to commit suicide by jumping into the sea, opposing the construction of a commercial port in Keni.
Three women who fell ill during the protest were shifted to a government hospital in a police ambulance.
Uttara Kannada Deputy Commissioner Lakshmipriya K had denied permission to stage a protest in village under Bavikeri Gram Panchayat in Ankola taluk and Keni village from Monday 6 am to Tuesday 6 am as precautionary measure.
The fishermen, who held the protest in spite of the prohibitory orders by the DC, have warned to continue the stir until the survey of the area for the port, ‘Keni Greenfield’ by JSW, continues. “We will stage the protest again and also commit suicide if the authorities go ahead with the construction of a commercial port in Keni,” they have added.
“Since we are dependent only on the sea for our livelihood, we will continue our protest intensely. Women too are ready to sacrifice their lives if the work on the commercial protest continues. Any such port can only be constructed on our graves,” Shrikanth Durgekar, leader of the fishermen has hit out at the authorities concerned, also asking that fishermen be permitted to continue their work at sea at peace.
Uttara Kannada Superintendent of Police M Narayana, Deputy SP Girish and Inspector Chandrashekhar Mathapathi arrived at Keni and pacified the fishermen, who continued to demand that the survey be halted.
Several leaders of the fishermen, including Durgekar, Sanjeeva Balegara, Shankar Balegar, Hoova Khandekar, Umakantha Hoskota, Chandrakantha Pirankar, Rajeshwari Kenikar, Suraj Harikanthra, participated in the protest.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Odisha: Normalcy returns to violence-hit Malkangiri; internet services fully restored
Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.
Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.
The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.
The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.
Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.
ALSO READ: Why remove Mahatma Gandhi's name, asks Priyanka on move to replace MGNREGA
The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.
Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.
Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.
A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.
So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.
More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.
