Those Responsible for Clashes in Bengre should be Severely Dealt with – MLA Lobo
Mangaluru: “On February 20, when the people were returning from Udupi after attending the Fishermen convention, an untoward incident occurred at Kasba Bengre. People in four buses reached safely to their homes but while the fifth bus was passing by, some miscreants started to shout slogans, pelted stones and assaulted the youth. Locals gathered at the spot and there was an exchange of words between two groups. Later the leaders from both Kasba Bengre and Thota Bengre solved the problems amicably. But those who are responsible for the clashes should be severely dealt with. I have already instructed the police to take strict action against those who take the law into their hands”, said MLA J R Lobo in a press meet held at his office here on February 21.
Addressing the mediapersons MLA J R Lobo said, “The people of Thota Bengre and Kasba Bengre were united and living peacefully. But on February 20, while returning from the Convention, the occupants of the bus shouted slogans which the locals opposed. In this connection, there was a war of words which lead to further clashes. The local leaders immediately intervened and brought the situation under control. During the night some miscreants pelted stones at a nearby Mosque. At 2:30 am miscreants damaged the main door of a house belonging to a family of the minority community, they also pelted stones and damaged the window panes and their vehicle. The police reached the spot on time and brought the situation under control. Miscreants also assaulted the youths and the police were also injured. I am very much hurt by this incident because Mangaluru was very peaceful. I have instructed the police to take stringent action against those who are responsible for these incidents.”
MLA Lobo further said, “Whoever those people are and whichever party they belong to, we will not compromise on this matter. The culprits should be severely dealt with so that no one should dare to repeat such crimes again. I also would like to thank the leader of Kasba Bengre Asif and the leaders of Thota Bengre Aslam, Sulaiman, Shekhar and Shekhar Suvarna for their timely intervention to bring the situation under control. Now since the elections are nearing, I request the people not to play dirty politics with the life of innocent people by creating violence. I also urge the police department to take severe action against the culprits. Recently we have distributed the land possession certificates to the families in Kasba Bengre and Thota Bengre and the members from both the areas had organized a beautiful programme. But I was surprised to hear that there were clashes between the people of Kasba Bengre and Thota Bengre.”
When asked about the allegations by DYFI in the distribution of land, MLA Lobo said, “From the past three years I am trying to distribute houses to the applicants. This is my concept and I have put all my efforts to make it successful. In the beginning, we had to identify the land and we had identified 10 acres of land which we have allocated and all the process was done transparently. This is a joint project of the Central government, state government, Mangaluru City corporation and the individuals. But I had taken the initiative to start this concept. Those who are putting allegations are not aware of the procedures from the beginning until now.”
Congress spokesperson Vinayraj, T K Sudheer, Salim and others were also present.
