Puttur: The Uppinangady town had remained well known for its social harmony and peaceful co-existence of different communities and was free of communal skirmishes for decades. It is only because of intrusion of outsiders that a few incidents have taken place during the past two or three years.
Those not hailing from town create problems, the fallout of which has to be borne by the peace-loving citizens here. The very fact that Uppinangady happened to be on the national highway which provided passage for those in transit created problems for the residents.
Some unfortunate incidents took place since last Friday, Jan 16, after which things have not remained the same. Business has suffered a lot. Shops have been asked to shut down after 7 pm. The town with some good restaurants with suitable parking facility afforded a comfortable stopover for breakfast, lunch and dinner or even a coffee-break late in the night.
But it is no longer the case. Vehicles do not stop because of the restrictions. If the town was in the news for wrong reasons, when it was recovering from the aftermath of the shock, it went on the record of the Met department as well but it was not noticed by most of the people of the state.
When most parts of the state were going through a chilly spell – with mercury dipping quite steeply even in most arid areas in northern Karnataka – Uppinangady registered the highest temperature of 40.5 degree Celsius at 3 pm on Monday, Jan 19. Ironically, in Bidar, which is known as an arid area, a minimum temperature of 8.5 degree C – the lowest in the state – was recorded.
Weather experts say that heavy fluctuations and variations in temperature have been observed in various parts of the state ever since the beginning of the year. They have expressed the fear that similar changes in the pattern of rainfall are likely during this year