Plea to reinstall Parashurama statue in Karkala theme park: HC orders petitioner to deposit Rs 5L
Bengaluru: Hearing a plea filed in relation to the Parashurama theme park in Karkala taluk of Udupi district, the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the petitioner seeking the reconstruction of the statue of Parashurama to deposit Rs 5 lakh with the HC registry within two weeks.
The 33-foot tall statue installed at the park in Karkala in 2023 had to be brought down within a few months following a case of fraud. The petitioner Uday Shetty Muniyal had filed the petition asking the court to direct the state government to reconstruct the statue by issuing fresh tenders and engaging a reputed sculptor.
With the division bench, consisting of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C M Joshi, orally instructing Muniyal to deposit Rs 5 lakh with the High Court, the petitioner’s advocate agreed to deposit the money. Further, the HC instructed the petitioner to deposit the amount from his personal account.
The petition has claimed to be an active member of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and having contested the Assembly elections of 2023. He stated that the petition aimed to protect the religious sentiments and cultural heritage of Hindus in Coastal Karnataka region who revere Lord Parashurama as the creator of the Parashurama Kshetra (Tulu Nadu & Karavali regions).
The Parashurama Theme Park at Karkala was reportedly conceptualized and inaugurated with a 33-feet bronze statue of Lord Parashurama in January 2023, funded by the respondent-government departments, which is public money. However, in a serious fraud, the statue was constructed using brass instead of bronze, endangering public safety and violating public trust. The upper portion of the statue was dismantled in October 2023 and stored elsewhere, leaving the theme park incomplete and devotees deeply hurt, Muniyal said.
The plea claims that, while a CID investigation was ordered by the State, and a complaint was filed against sculptor Krishna Naik, accusing him of constructing the statue using brass instead of bronze, there was also a clear case of violation of Articles 25 and 26 Freedom of Religion and Protection of Religious Institutions and that the respondents have blatantly ignored the importance of freedom of religion and the emphasis on its practice.
The installation, maintenance and worship of the Parashurama statue in Karkala is an essential religious practice for devotees of Parashurama as a neglect or improper reconstruction of the statue constitutes a direct infringement of their right to freely practice religion, the plea states.
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Indigo flights chaos: SCR to run special trains to clear passenger rush
Hyderabad (PTI): The South Central Railway on Saturday announced that it would run four special trains to manage the surge in passengers resulting from the large-scale cancellation of IndiGo flights here.
The move comes as flyers face significant disruption and long queues at the airport due to the cancellation.
A press release from the SCR said it is running the special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers to Chennai, Mumbai and Shalimar (Kolkata) from Hyderabad today.
Meanwhile, as many as 43 outbound Indigo flights were cancelled from here on Saturday, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport sources said.
ALSO READ: IndiGo cancels over 200 flights from Delhi, Mumbai on Saturday
Similarly, 26 incoming flights are also likely to be cancelled during the day, they said.
The flight cancellations drew ire from passengers, who thronged the IndiGo counters at the airport demanding to know the exact situation.
“This is utter nonsense! Digiyatra done, message received that departure has been rescheduled ahead of the scheduled departure and now upon arriving at Hyderabad airport coming to know at the security checkpoint that Indigo flight is cancelled,” Tarun Singha, former Ministry of Defence spokesperson said in a post on X.
“But the thing is if you don’t shout they do nothing. Example at Hyderabad Airport, there was no staff no flight information for an hour. Then a fellow passenger started shouting on mic and an Indigo staff appeared finally,” a netizen said in a post.
On Friday, when IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights from across airports, its CEO Pieter Elbers apologised in a video message for the major inconvenience caused to passengers due to the disruptions.
In the one-way video communication, Elbers also said that the airline was expecting fewer than 1,000 flights on Saturday.
