Karnataka Cong MLA H Y Meti no more, CM Siddaramaiah expresses grief
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Congress MLA from Bagalkote H Y Meti died at a private hospital here on Tuesday, party and hospital sources said.
He was 79 and was undergoing treatment for breathing issues and other age-related ailments, they said.
Meti, who was chairman for Bagalkote Urban Development Authority, is survived by two sons and two daughters.
They said his mortal remains will be taken to Bagalkote in the evening and last rites are likely to be performed on Wednesday afternoon.
Initially, Meti represented Guledgudda Assembly constituency in 1989, 1994 and 2004 as a Janata Dal member.
After getting elected in 1994, he served as the Forest Minister. He was also elected as MP from Bagalkote in 1996.
After delimitation of constituencies, he had contested in 2008 from Bagalkote on a Congress ticket, but lost.
He won in 2013 and served as Excise Minister in the then Siddaramiah-led Congress government, but lost in 2018.
He was considered to be among the close associates of Chief Minister Siddaramiah.
Siddaramaiah visited the hospital to pay his last respects to Meti.
Expressing grief over Meti's death, the CM said, "I had visited the hospital last Thursday and inquired about his health. I was hopeful that he would recover and join us again. Both my hopes and wishes have been dashed."
"Meti, who was in public life for a long time, was a politician who was pro-people and only concerned about the development of the constituency. The society has become poorer with his demise," he posted on 'X'.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Odisha: Normalcy returns to violence-hit Malkangiri; internet services fully restored
Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.
Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.
The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.
The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.
Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.
ALSO READ: Why remove Mahatma Gandhi's name, asks Priyanka on move to replace MGNREGA
The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.
Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.
Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.
A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.
So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.
More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.
