Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (JD)
Udupi, Mar 14: Udupi municipal corporation on Sunday March 14 decided to cancel the licence of Asma Electronics, whose employeees were allegedly involved in an assault on a Dalit civic worker over segregation of waste.
In a special meeting called by the CMC commissioner to discuss the matter, the members decided to take stringent action against the alleged assaulters.
Addressing the meeting, CMC president Sumithra Naik said, "The municipality should abide by its duty to give protection to all our civic workers. There can be no compromise in this matter. Our health inspector had visited the spot immediately after he came to know of the incident. Various organisations are misusing the matter to gain attention. This meeting should send a message that the CMC stands in solidarity with its civic workers."
MLA Raghupati Bhat said, "All the works of the municipality are done by civic workers of various levels. If these incidents keep happening, the civic workers would feel threatened and think that there is no protection for them when needed. The whole CMC team stands in solidarity with the civic workers. If there was any problem with waste collection, the concerned could have complained to the municipality.
"There were accusations that those involved in the assault are relatives of BJP minority wing's Udupi president. BJP has clarified on the issue, and we have decided that no protection would be provide to the culprits. Whether they are relatives of BJP minority wing president or even my own family members, strict action will be taken if any unlawful act is committed by them. Let us take a decision to cancel the licence of the shop and to close it down," he added.
There was much uproar during the meeting due to the absence of opposition party members. The four Congress members of CMC were absent.
Addressing the meeting, standing committee president Girish Anchan said, "After the incident happened, none of the CMC members or even the MLA tried to protect the culprits, rather everyone demanded strict action. Within 45 minutes of the incident, the culprits were produced in the police station.
"Opposition leaders and some leaders of so-called organization entered the scene after 7 pm. They tried to project that no legal action had been undertaken. If our officers and CMC members had not taken the culprits to the police station, there was a chance that they would have escaped. Because of their timely action, the culprits are behind bars today," he said.
Slamming the opposition members, Anchan further said, "All the front seats of the opposition should be empty in future. The ones who acted like goondas in the session of the municipality are today teaching us rules. With the help of so-called leaders of the organization, they are complaining that municipality officials have not taken any action. We are with our municipality staff and workers whenever they need us. Let the opposition members come to this decision-making meeting and expresss their opinions rather than speaking in the streets and passing comments. They are just roll-call leaders. We even have proof of what these leaders are doing in the gullies of town station. They are planning to hold protest in front of the municipality, but if they really want justice for the civic worker, let them protest in front of the shop where the incident too place. People have chosen us to provide good administration and we will do that."