Padayatra: Another FIR against 40 Cong leaders including D K Shivakumar for COVID rules violation
Ramanagara(PTI): As the Congress' 'padayatra' demanding implementation of the Mekedatu project across the Cauvery river, entered its third day on Tuesday, another FIR has been registered against 40 party leaders including its state President D K Shivakumar and others for taking out the march defying COVID-19 curbs.
The FIR has been registered at the Sathanoor police station for defying restrictions on Monday, during which Congress leaders and a large number of party workers had marched a distance of about 15 km from Shivakumar's native Doddalahalli to Kanakapura.
Shivakumar's brother and Bengaluru Rural MP D K Suresh, former Ministers Krishna Byre Gowda, H Anjaneya, and party leaders like- Narayanaswamy, Motamma, P T Parameshwara Naik, Dhruvanarayana, are among those mentioned in the FIR.
They have been booked for violation of guidelines, gathering in huge numbers, without wearing masks and maintaining social distance, under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act and sections of IPC, the FIR said.
This even as the Congress' 10-day long padayatra demanding for implementation of Mekedatu project, to which neighbouring Tamil Nadu is opposed to, continued for the third day today for a distance of about 14.3 km from Kanakapura to Chikkenahalli, with participation of hundreds of party workers and supporters.
The first FIR filed at the same Sathanoor police station for defying restrictions on Sunday, had named 30 people including Shivakumar, Suresh, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Siddaramaiah, former Union Minister Veerappa Moily, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, former Deputy CM G Parameshwara, among others.
The padayatra spanning a distance of nearly 139 km is scheduled to conclude at Basavanagudi in Bengaluru on January 19.
Alleging that the BJP government was making frustrated attempts to scuttle the padayatra, fearing political gain for the Congress party, Siddaramaiah earlier today asserted that they will go ahead with it as planned.
"They (govt) have booked cases against 30 of us and they may book more cases. We will not fear cases, if they feel they can scare us by filing cases, we can call this BJP government a foolish government...we will fight it legally," he said.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
