Udupi district Bandh on November 10 opposing sand problem
Action Committee for Sand decides to hold bandh
Udupi, October 31: Udupi MLA Raghupathi Bhat said that overnight dharna would be continued till the district administration allow sand mining in CRZ and non-CRZ zones and the district bandh would be observed on November 10.
The MLA disclosed the resolutions taken in the meeting of the organisations who have been staying dharna for the last seven days led by Udupi District Action Committee for Sand, here on Wednesday.
The protest would continue till the district administration gave permission for sand mining. As there is code of conduct in force and festival holidays till November 8, they have decided to observe bandh on November 10 to attract the attention of the government. After November 10, all activities of construction sector would be suspended, he said.
Arrogance of CM
The statement of the Chief Minister that the centre was responsible for sand problem was not right. The state government was showing adamant attitude in the issue. The state government was not in a position to control the AC office in the district, Opposition Leader in Legislative Council Kota Srinivas Poojary criticized.
It was planning to take this agitation to the home office of the Chief Minister to find a logical end to the problem. Instead of showing adamant attitude, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy should solve the problem, he demanded.
MLA Lalji R. Mendon, Former Minister Jayaprakash Hegde, Boats Workers Association President Sudhakar Amin, ZP Vice President Sheela K. Shetty, Action Committee for Sand convener M.G Nagendra, PWD Contractors Association President Alevur Sridhar Shetty, Gopal Bhat of Udupi Engineers Association, Lorry Owners Association President Praveen Suvarna, Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Krishnaraj Kodancha and others were present.
Fight against centre too: Bhat
The state government has written a letter to the central government on October 25 and thus rolled the ball from the district administration to the centre. It was purposefully done in order to avoid sand mining. Protest would be held against this on November 10. If the centre took a adverse decision against the sand issue, they would also fight against the central government, the MLA warned. They would not backtrack from the protest, MLA K. Raghupathi Bhat warned.
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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.
