Mangaluru/Kasaragod, Jun 30: In what appears to be an ego clash between the officers of Karnataka and Kerala, around 150 Mangalureans including 12 pregnant women were evicted from the lodges in Kasaragod in the middle of the night and sent to Mangaluru.
Expressing shock over the incident, Mangaluru MLA U T Khader hit out at the authorities concerned for the lack of concern towards the stranded passengers. “If IAS officers don’t have humanity, what is the use of the IAS tag. Officers in the two states should learn to speak to one another and solve people’s problems,” he said apparently addressing DCs of Kasaragod and Dakshina Kannada.
The 150 passengers had arrived on Saturday from Dubai in a chartered flight arranged by the Karnataka Cultural Foundation. The flight landed in Kannur after it was denied permission to land in Mangaluru.
But Karnataka’s nodal officer for stranded persons outside India C N Meena Nagaraj, an IAS officer, called up Kerala officials and questioned why the flight was allowed to land in Kannur, Khader said. She reportedly told Kerala officials that the passengers should be quarantined in the cities of arrival and that Karnataka would not take them in.
In the meantime, the Karnataka Cultural Foundation arranged seven buses to take the passengers to Mangaluru. By the time it was conveyed to them that they would not be allowed to enter Mangaluru, the buses had reached Kasaragod district. The representatives of the organisation made frantic calls to several political leaders. Congress leader and district panchayat standing committee chairperson Harshad Vorkady said he got a call for help around 10pm on Saturday. He spoke to owners of three lodges to accommodate them. The lodges were used by the district administration as quarantine centres.
The lodge owners said they would take the passengers in only if the Kasaragod tahsildar gave permission. “So I called up the tahsildar. He only wanted to know who will pay for the lodging and food. When I told him that the passengers will pay, he gave permission. By midnight, all the passengers were put up in the three lodges,” he said. The police were also at the spot, he said.
According to the Covid protocol, those arriving from abroad should be in institutional quarantine for seven days and in room quarantine for another seven days. But by 4pm on Sunday, the police returned to the lodges and asked the passengers to vacate. They said it was the order of the collector. They produced the order to the lodge owners. The office-bearers of the Karnataka Cultural Foundation said they sought time from the Kasaragod police to arrange rooms in Mangaluru. But Kasaragod police denied it.
On Sunday, there were Covid deaths in Mangaluru and the Mangaluru deputy commissioner was tied up as residents were objecting to the funeral of one of the victims. “By night, the police started threatening the lodge owners. The members of the Foundation said they would shift the passengers by Monday morning. But the collector would not listen,” said Harshad.
Around 11pm, the Kasaragod district administration brought in four KSRTC buses and sent all the 150 passengers to Mangaluru, he said. By 1am the buses crossed the Thalapdy border and Khader took over from there. But the MLA was livid with how officials treated the people. Collector Sajith Babu in a statement said his enquiry found that the tahsildar did not give permission to accommodate the passengers in Kasaragod lodges.
Speaking at a function organized by Minority Morcha (Krishanaraja assembly constituency) at Kalegowda community hall here recently, he said: "After independence, minorities had pinned hopes on Congress for growth. But that party used minority people as its vote bank and ditched them. Its contribution for the community's education is negligible."
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I think these ladies are either non-muslims and are in veil just for eye swash or these are paid workers who can do anything for money. If they are real muslims, they will never support bjp who is anti muslim and its already mentioned in their agenda that all members should work against muslims/islam. they are targeting muslims from all side and could not understand how these ladies and one Abdul Aziz is supporting this anti muslim party. I kinow that Congress has done nothing to Muslims, but bjp is bigger enemy of muslims than congress. Abdul aziz and these hired ladies might have forgotten that during the victory procession by bjp members they attacked Muslims, their shops, places of worships etc. Are these hired ladies and Abdul Aziz are blind/deaf or have sold themselves to bjp for the sake of some money. Shame on you ladies/Abdul Aziz. Dont act like Munafiqs. BJP is using you for vote bank also and will kick you out once they come to power. May Allah give you hidayat and right way of thinking. Dont ruin your present life and the life after death for money and praise/glory/appreciation.
minorities women uplift bjp after that BJP uplift you parda then you come to know the habit of BJP be aware of BJP and ABDUL AZIZ
congress jindabad, bjp murdabad.
all minorities should support bjp then only bjp can fully uplift india.
yes we know about this, still we support congress till our death.
bjp doing actually good for minorities, but congress always used them for vote bank, that they will never understand.
What bjp showed towards minority is more than enough....now since u hv been a silly post, you don't try to show off
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