State government is responsible for delay in Pumpwell Flyover work: MP Nalin Kumar Kateel
Mangaluru, November 18: MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said that construction of Pumpwell Flyover was delayed as the state government had not completed the land acquisition on time.
Speaking to reporters after inspecting the flyover work here on Sunday, he said that now, the construction work was at the final stage and it would be completed by January end. Thokkottu Flyover would be opened for traffic movement by December. Though the work started in 2010, it was delayed because of shifting of a big Kalasha of Mahaveera Circle and construction of service bus stand besides national highway. The work was accelerated in 2016. National highway was designed fifteen years ago. But due to construction of bus stand at Pumpwell circle, there was a demand to change the design of the National Highway. But the state government and the then deputy commissioner had delayed the process and it postponed the work. Meanwhile, the company which was entrusted the responsibility of construction, has incurred financial loss. For all these reasons, the work was delayed, he said.
Then deputy commissioner, MLA and the district minister were responsible for the delay of the work. Though 15 years have gone after disbursing the compensation to the owners of the land on BC Road, 10 buildings on the roadside were not yet evicted. There were three houses amidst the service road at Thokkottu. If the officials tried to evict them, they were getting threatening calls. He was silent because he didn't want to mix politics in development. When there was Congress government both at the centre and in the state, they had taken 13 years to complete 30 km road from BC Road to Surathkal Mukka. But Baikampady bridge was not included in that work. It was completed during his tenure. Panemangaluru Nethravathi river bridge took 14 years to complete. When Yeddyurappa was the chief minister, he had given Rs 300 crore to the Mangaluru city corporation. Then concrete roads were laid in the city. Even after 11 years, the corporation has failed to lay footpaths. Those who oppose everything, should answer as to why those works were delayed, he said.
Letter to suspend toll
"We have been demanding suspension of Mukka and Brahmarakutlu tollgate, for the state government has to submit a proposal to the union minister of national highways. He has already written a letter to the Chief Minister regarding this issue. Meanwhile, the NHAI regional office has submitted it's opinion to the central government that tollgate can be removed. So the state government should take a suitable decision", he demanded.
NHAI project director Samson Vijay Kumar, Engineer Ajith Kumar and Navayug Company officers were present.
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Gujarat: Mevani demands collector’s suspension over ‘anti-Dalit’ remark; IAS officer rejects charge
Mahnisagar, Oct 30: Gujarat Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani on Wednesday demanded the suspension of Mahisagar District Collector Neha Kumari, accusing her of making anti-Dalit comments, a charge the bureaucrat rejected.
Mevani’s demand comes a week after he sought similar action against senior IPS officer Rajkumar Pandian for allegedly misbehaving with him and one of his party colleagues.
Mevani targeted Kumari citing a purported video in which she was heard saying that 90 per cent of cases registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, or the Atrocities Act, are used for blackmailing.
The IAS officer termed the lawmaker’s claims “baseless” and an unsuccessful attempt to get political mileage.
Mevani visited Lunawada, the district headquarters, and demanded that an FIR be registered against the collector under the Atrocities Act and that she was suspended over her “insensitive” remarks and “unparliamentary” words.
When one Vijay Parmar went to meet the collector with his grievance at the SWAGAT programme on October 23, she used “unparliamentary” words against him and also insulted the lawyer community by saying they should be “slapped with slippers”, the Vadgam MLA told reporters.
SWAGAT is an initiative of the Gujarat government for the redressal of people’s grievances.
According to Mevani, the collector’s claim that 90 per cent of cases under the Atrocities Act are misused for blackmailing is an insult to the SC and ST communities and amounts to an offence under the Atrocities Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
“We demand Kumari's suspension and that a case be registered against her,” he said.
The district collector called the MLA’s allegations a “political stunt”.
“The man whom the MLA called poor, innocent young friend (Vijay Parmar) has a police case against him, and his brother has more than one case of rape, kidnapping and assault against him,” Kumari said, adding that they keep visiting the collector’s office with grievances.
At the SWAGAT programme on October 23, he pressured the collector to file a case against police officers. When the collector told him that she did not have the power to file a case and that he should approach the superintendent of police (SP) or the court, he continued to pester her over his issue, she said.
He even threatened the officers and told the collector that she was a Brahmin and he would let her know what “section 4 of the Atrocities Act entailed”, she said.
“You can understand the direction in which this MLA wants to take law and order by keeping a person with a criminal history along with him even when the state government is sensitive about children and women,” she said.
The collector said that the way Vijay Parmar is “blackmailing” government employees in the name of the Atrocities Act is not at all right. “The MLA's support to such people makes it difficult for the real complainants and the real victims to get justice,” she said.
Last week, Congress leaders and Dalit community members gathered outside the office of the Director General of Police in the state capital Gandhinagar demanding the suspension of senior IPS officer Rajkumar Pandian over his alleged misbehaviour with Mevani and his party colleague.
