Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Jan 21: Under the banner of BJP, a public meeting and protest demonstration in front of the taluk panchayat office here was held on Friday January 20, to register anger at non-disposal of any of the applications filed for granting ownership rights to applicants under section 94c and 94cc.

The activists went in a procession from Shastri circle to the mini Vidhan Soudha here. During this time, there was exchange of heated words between police personnel and protesters. This resulted in stampede. MLC, Kota Srinivas Poojary and several BJP leaders and zilla panchayat members, who had raided the mini Voidhan Soudha, were stopped by the police, who took them away in police van and private buses. BJP activists who were loaded onto vehicles and led away were heard shouting slogans against the government.

Srinivas Poojary expressed resentment in his address at the fact that out of 11,840 applications filed, not a single application has been sanctioned, and that in Byndoor constituency, all the applications have been kept pending. "As per court order, people living in grazing land, government land and road margins can be given title deeds or alternative sites. But officials are behaving as if they are doling out their own private land to the poor people. Forest minister had announced that he would alienate 34,000 hectares of land in the district from the ambit of deemed forests. He questioned the concerned about non-implementation of these decisions.

BJP local constituency unit president, Kadur Suresh Shetty, party leaders, Rajesh Kaveri, Kishore Kumar, zilla panchayat members, Shankar Poojary, Laxmi Billava, Shobha Putran and Babu Shetty, taluk panchayat president, Jayashree Mogaveera, and others were present. BJP Byndoor constituency president, Sadananda Sheregar, delivered introductory address.

As Centre of Indian Trade Unions also held protest supporting various demands in the town, the town was full of protesters and slogans on Friday.