Congress supports illegal sand mining in District – BJP chief Mattar Rathnakar Hegde
Udupi: The district Bharatiya Janata Party president Mattar Rathnakar Hegde alleged that the Congress supports illegal sand mining going on in Udupi district through the district minister in-charge Pramod Madhwaraj.
He was speaking at a press meet at the Party office Kadiyali Udupi on Monday, April 3, Hegde said that the attack on the Deputy commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis, assistant Commissioner Kundapur Shilpa Nag and others is condemnable. This is the first time in the history of Udupi district such an incident has happened. This has happened because the members of the Congress are running illegal sand mining in the district since the last 4 years.
From the last four years, the Bharatiya Janata Party has been demanding the government to form a separate sand policy for the Costal district but the government is not ready for it. The district minister in charge Pramod Madhwaraj is encouraging the sand mafia and because of that, honest officers victimising like Priyanka Mary, Shilpa Nag and others have been victimised.
The deputy commissioner (DC) of Udupi district, Priyanka Mary Francis, and assistant commissioner Shilpa Nag had a narrow escape, after the gang involved in illegal sand mining tried to assault them, late on Sunday night. A village accountant from Amparu village, Kantharaj, who was with them was seriously assaulted and has been hospitalised. The incident occurred near Kandlur village in Kudapur taluk of the district, where the officials had gone for a surprise check following repeated complaints.
As a district minister in-charge Pramod Madhwaraj should have praised the bold move of the officials but he did not do that, he simply gave a statement to the visual media against the Deputy commissioner in Gundlupete. He has no time to visit the district after such shocking attack on the Deputy Commissioner of the district. If there is no security for the Deputy Commissioner in the district then what security will he give to the common people of the district?
Pramod Madhwaraj has alleged that the deputy commissioner used her private car during the raid which is wrong. But as a bold woman she took the risk and went to check the illegal activities. Sometimes officers should use private cars because if they travel on their official car criminals can get the information and escape from the place. The deputy commissioner and the Assistant commissioner have not done anything wrong in this case. They have done their duty honestly and the BJP will always support them and stand behind them for their good work, he added.
While concluding he said that the law and order situation in the State has collapsed after the Congress party came to power. The district minister has failed to protect the life and property of the common people as well as the officials of the district. There is no safety for the officials in the district. This type of incident has never happened in the district. The district was ruled by many leaders like Jayaprakash Hegde, Dr V S Acharya, Vasanth V Salian, Vinay Kumar Sorake and others as district minister in-charge and an incident like this had never happened during their tenure. It has happened only after Madhwaraj took over as the district minister in-charge. He has no moral right to continue as the district minister in-charge of Udupi. He must submit his resignation if not the chief minister should remove him from his ministership, he urged.
Later the BJP members staged a protest against the attack on the deputy commissioner and Assistant commissioner and also demanded to take strict action against all the culprits. The protesters also demanded the resignation of the district minister in-charge Pramod Madhwaraj.
Former MLA Raghupathi Bhat, BJP leaders Kuthyaru Naveen Shetty, Geethanjali Suvarna, Nayana Ganesh, Akshith Shetty Herga, Upendra Nayak, Katapadi Shanker Poojary, Suprasad Shetty, Suresh Nayak and others were present.