Bharat bandh likely to cripple normal life in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi

coastaldigest.com web desk
September 9, 2018

Mangaluru, Sept 9: The day-long Bharat Bandh called by an alliance of Opposition parties and trade unions on Monday (September 10) against the rising prices of petroleum products and daily essentials is likely to affect normal life in coastal Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

With the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka supporting the cause, the bandh is expected to cause hardship to people. Even though the coastal region considered as a bastion of Bharatiya Janata Party, dozens of organizations have extended support to bandh.

The Dakshina Kannada Bus Owners’ Association has said that it will “morally support” the ‘Bharat Bandh’. Bus services in the district may be affected if there are any obstacles for traffic movement on that day, Dilraj Alva, president, and Prakash Shekha, general secretary of the association, said.

They, in a release, said that hike in diesel prices has hit the owners and it has become difficult to operate buses.

They said that the association urges the Union government to bring petroleum products under the ambit of GST.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference here, B. Ramanath Rai, former Congress Minister, questioned why the BJP is mum on the increasing prices of fuel. Mr. Rai said that the hike has hit people resulting in increase in the prices of essential commodities. He said that the party appealed to the people to support the bandh.

The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) has also supported the bandh. In a release its state president Muneer Katipalla said that the economic policies of the Union government are destabilising the life of common people.

Staying away from supporting the bandh, the Old Bunder Kirana and Allied Merchants’ Association, Mangaluru said on Saturday that its members will not close down their establishments on Monday in view of Gouri and Ganesha festivals on September 12 and September 13. In a letter to the Deputy Commissioner, president of the association P. Panduranga Bhandarkar sought security to the business of the members of the association on Monday.

 The Udupi District Congress Committee has given a call for a voluntary bandh and claimed that several organizations have extended support.

Janardhan Tonse, DCC president, told presspersons that his party had approached bus operators, autorickshaw operators and other voluntary organisations in the distict. All of them had agreed to support the bandh, he claimed.

Ever since the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance came to power, the prices of fuel and LPG cylinders had been increasing. The wrong economic policies of the Union government were responsible for the rupee losing its value. If the value kept on falling, the day was not far when petrol will be available at Rs. 100 per litre. The Union government had not reduced the price of petrol and diesel when the price of crude oil had dropped in the international markets, Mr. Tonse said.

The Centre earned revenue of Rs. 11 lakh crore due to increase in fuel prices. Despite public anger, the Centre had taken no action on this matter. Hence, the Congress had called for the bandh, Mr. Tonse added.

What may be affected?

BMTC, KSRTC operations, taxis, autorickshaws, Ola, Uber, airport taxi service, schools, colleges, commercial activities, cinema halls and multiplexes, shopping malls.

What will not be affected?

Hospitals, emergency services, milk supply, medical shops, Metro services.

Comments

Ibrahim
 - 
Sunday, 9 Sep 2018

If govt supporting to this then its state govt holiday

Kumar
 - 
Sunday, 9 Sep 2018

People should cooperate with this. This is for proper reason.

Danish
 - 
Sunday, 9 Sep 2018

Govt should announce it as holiday. Its for people

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
August 4,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 4: Police barricades, yellow banners, walls with a fresh coat of paint and the sounds of bhajan mark parts of Ayodhya as the city awaits its big day Wednesday, when the first brick will be laid for the Ram temple.

Ayodhya is decked up for the bhoomi pujan that will be attended at the Ram Janmabhoomi by 175 people, who figure in a select guest list of seers and politicians topped by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Concerned over the spread of coronavirus, the authorities are encouraging others not to come to the temple town, asking them to mark the occasion by celebrating at their homes. The groundbreaking ceremony will be telecast live.

Roads leading to Ayodhya display hoardings with the picture of the proposed Ram temple and of Ram Lalla, the infant Ram, the deity now housed in a makeshift temple.

Around the town’s Hanumangarhi area – named after a well-known temple which Modi will visit on Wednesday – both police sirens and ‘bhajans’ in praise of Ram are heard.

Most of the shops in the locality wear a new look, with their fronts painted in bright yellow. A large number of policemen were deployed there on Tuesday. Some sat in the sweet shops, waiting for their next instructions.

Roads leading into the area are barricaded. Yards of yellow cloth and marigold garlands were being hung on poles.

Even on the day before the event, security checks on vehicles heading to Ayodhya begin from adjoining Barabanki district itself on the Lucknow-Ayodhya road. Policemen take down details, including mobile numbers of the travellers.

Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar said the focus of the force is on maintaining the Covid-19 protocol.

“So we are not going to allow any outsider to enter Ayodhya city,” he said. Prohibitory orders are also in force and not more than four people will be allowed to gather.

“The markets and shops will remain open but with strict adherence to the Covid protocol,” he said. Outsiders will be stopped from entering the city, but Ayodhya residents will be allowed in if they produce any identification document.

“We are also carrying out random checks on people living in Ayodhya to ensure that no outsiders are staying here,” he said.

The city’s temples and mosques will remain open, but no other religious event – except for the bhoomi pujan – will take place on Wednesday.

Pickets have been set up at sensitive points in the city.

Sub-inspector Ram Chandra Yadav and constables Avnish Kumar and Ankit Chaudhary man the Terhi Bazar Chauraha picket near the Ram Janmabhoomi site.

"We are here for the past some days, and were on duty on the Rakshabandhan day. Duty comes first and only after that come other things in life, like festivals," Yadav said.

Mayank Gupta, who runs a restaurant, was handing out food packets to policemen, his customers.

"For the last two months, I have been providing tiffin to them twice a day. There are around 100 policemen to whom I supply tiffin," Gupta said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 22,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 22: A staff working at the office of Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner was sent to quarantine as a precautionary measure here in the city on Wednesday.

The staff reportedly is a distant relative of a woman (native of Bantwal) who recently died due to killer Corona Virus in Wenlock Hospital, prompting the DC office to send the staff for 14-day quarantine.

According to the reports the staff had met the Doctor who was treating the woman and had inquired about her health condition on April 18.

However the staff did not meet the woman when she was in hospital as she was being treated in the ICU.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
February 23,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 23: Bolstered by the Supreme Court's interim nod for the gazette notification of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal award by the Central government, Karnataka decided to allot funds for the drinking water project in the state's northwest region, an official said on Saturday.

"Funds will be allotted in the state budget for fiscal 2020-21 to complete the Kalasa-Banduri project across the Mahadayi river for supplying drinking water to the four drought-prone northern districts in the state," the official of the water resources department told media on anonymity.

As Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa also holds the finance portfolio, he has agreed to allocate funds for the project, held up for years in the legal battle with the neighbouring Goa and Maharashtra over the sharing of the river water among the three coastal states.

Yediyurappa is slated to present the state budget for the ensuing fiscal in the legislative assembly on March 2.

"We will resume the project work once the Centre notifies the award though it will be binding on the final outcome of the apex court's hearing the review petitions of Goa and Maharashtra against the Tribunal award," the official noted.

A division bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Hemant Gupta on Thursday passed an interim order on the Tribunal award, allowing the central water resources ministry to notify it for implementation and posted the case for final hearing in July.

The Tribunal on August 14, 2018 allocated 13.42 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of the river water to the southern state for irrigation and drinking water supply to towns and villages across Bagalkot, Belagavi, Dharwad and Gadag districts, which are in the arid region of the Deccan plateau.

The four districts are about 400-550 km northwest of Bengaluru in the southern state.

Of the 13.42 tmcft water, 5.5 tmcft will be used in the river basin and for diversion into the depleted Malaprabha reservoir while the balance 7.92 tmcft will be utilized for hydel power generation instead of allowing the water to go into the Arabian Sea on the state's west coast through Goa.

Goa, which opposed Karnataka's demand for 36.66 tmcft, was allocated 24 tmcft, while Maharashtra got 1.3 tmcft.

The Tribunal assessed that 188.06 tmc feet water is available at 75 per cent dependability.

The three-member Tribunal is headed by Chairman Justice J.M. Panchal, Justice Viney Mittal and Justice P.S. Naayana.

The Union government had set up the inter-state Tribunal on November 16, 2010 for the djudication of the Mahadayi basin water allocation among the three riparian and contiguous states.

Goa and Maharashtra claimed 122.6 tmc feet and 6.35 tmc feet of the river water respectively.

The Tribunal, which commenced sittings on September 6, 2012, held 1,209 sittings for over 6 years.

Supreme Court senior counsel F.S. Nariman represented the state before the Tribunal to present its case.

The Tribunal's chairman and two members inspected the river basin area across the three coastal states from December 12-24, 2013.

The 77km-long Mahadayi or Mandovi river originates at Bhimgad in the Western Ghats in Belagavi district and flows into the neighbouring Goa through Maharashtra and joins the Arabian Sea off the west coast.

Though the river flows 29 km in Karnataka and 52 km in Goa, its catchment area is spread over 2,032 km in the southern state as against 1,580 km in the western state (Goa).

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.