Anti-CAA stir: Uttar Pradesh govt moves to identify, seal assets of vandals
Lucknow: As a first step towards making protestors pay for causing damage to public properties during agitations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the Uttar Pradesh government has begun the process of identifying the vandals, with the Lucknow district administration forming a four-member panel to assess the damage.
The additional district magistrate (east) has been made the in-charge of assessing the damage to various property in eastern part of the city, Lucknow District Magistrate Abhishek Prakash told PTI.
Similarly, the additional district magistrate (west) and additional district magistrate (trans-Gomti) have been assigned the task of evaluating the loss in their areas. Additional district magistrate (administration) has been assigned with the task for the rural areas, the Lucknow DM said.
The Gorakhpur police had on Saturday released photographs of around 50 people allegedly involved in protests against the amended citizenship law here after the Friday prayers. The police said the troublemakers have been identified from the video footage.
"Around 50 people involved in the violence have been identified through video footage and their pictures will be put up all crossroads and major spots," Kotwali Circle Officer V P Singh had said.
The move comes days after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that properties of all those involved in violence would be confiscated to offset the damage.
Protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Act that broke out in several districts of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday left at least 16 people dead and moveable and immoveable assets damaged, mostly in arson.
The amended citizenship law allows citizenship to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis who entered India before 2015 after facing religious persecution in three neighbouring countries. The list excludes Muslims.
Adityanath had said that the wrong-doers would be identified with the help of CCTV footage, video clips and photographs.
The action is based on a Supreme Court order that rioters would be strictly made liable for the damage, and compensation would be collected to make good the damage.
The chief minister had said that property of those involved in the violence would be seized and auctioned to compensate destruction of public assets during the protests over the amended citizenship law.
"There is no place for violence in a democracy... those damaging property have been captured in video and CCTV footage," he had said, while appealing to people to maintain peace.
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Power struggle in ruling Cong has 'created massive confusion' in Karnataka: BJP leader Ashoka
Bengaluru (PTI): BJP leader R Ashoka on Friday claimed that the ongoing power struggle between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar has created massive confusion in Karnataka.
He remarked that the proverb “when two people fight, the third one benefits” has come true, as AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge is also now making efforts to become Chief Minister.
Speaking to reporters here, Ashoka said the entire government has turned into a house of confusion due to the alleged power tussle.
Kharge’s new statement has only added to the chaos, he said.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had on Friday said that no date has been fixed yet to discuss possible leadership change in Karnataka.
This came a day after Kharge said there was no change of CM in Karnataka "for now" and that the leadership issue in the state would be resolved soon.
The BJP leader said that Kharge too has aspirations and that he was cheated earlier.
"Perhaps he has received a green signal from the Congress high command to become CM. Everyone is already saying Kharge should become CM. Kharge himself has declared, “I am ready to become CM.” Despite many attempts in the past, he never became CM. Now he is trying to seize the opportunity," the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly said.
According to him, the situation in Congress has perfectly become a case of “two people fighting, third one benefits.”
