Mangaluru: Anti-toll gate panel asks voters to defeat BJP in Karnataka Assembly poll
Mangaluru (PTI): The anti-toll gate action committee, which spearheaded the successful agitation against the toll gate at Surathkal here, has asked voters in the districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi to defeat the BJP in the ensuing Assembly elections for imposing hefty hike in toll charges on highways.
In a statement here, the committee convenor Muneer Katipalla strongly criticised the Union government's decision to increase highway toll charges by 25 per cent with effect from April 1.
Katipalla said the hike in toll charges has burdened the people who are already affected by price rise and increased cost of living. Toll charges have now been increased at the four toll plazas in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, he said.
The common people should show their political will to teach the BJP a lesson in the coming elections and force all political parties not to act to benefit of corporates, he said.
While Dakshina Kannada has two toll gates at Talapady on the National Highway border with Kerala and Brahmarakootlu on the Mangaluru-Bengaluru NH 75. Udupi has two toll plazas at Hejmady and Sasthana, both on NH 66.
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Tirupati laddu row: Samples of Ayodhya Ram temple 'prasad' sent for testing
Ayodhya, Sep 27: The Food Safety and Drug Administration Department on Friday collected samples of 'elaichi daana' or cardamom seeds being distributed as 'prasad' at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple here and sent them for testing, officials said.
The action was taken following a complaint lodged through the Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS), Assistant Food Commissioner Manik Chand Singh said.
Singh said the samples were procured from Haiderganj, where the cardamom seed offerings are prepared and sent to the Jhansi State Laboratory for comprehensive testing and evaluation.
Prakash Gupta, the officer in charge of the Ram Temple trust, revealed that on average, around 80,000 packets of cardamom seeds are distributed daily as a sacred offering.
Amid a row over the alleged presence of animal fat in laddus at the Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh, the chief priest of the Ram temple here on Thursday questioned the purity of ghee being sold nationwide and said 'prasad' should be prepared under the supervision of temple priests only.
