Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Jul 15: A petty shop dealing in fish was being run in Moodanidambur village within the city limits here by Radha Ashokraj, who belongs to scheduled caste. The administration had evicted the shop on July 5, claiming it to be an unauthorised shop. Dalit Sangharsh Samithi state convener, Uday Kumar Tallur, has condemned the action of the district administration in violating section 15A of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 read with the amendment brought to the above section in 2016, which deals with the rights of the aggrieved and also the witnesses.
He said that the shop belonging to Ashokraj was evicted all of a sudden under the leadership of the commissioner of the city municipality based on someone's complaint, which he said is unjust. Tallur also added that a case against city municipal health officer, Karunakar, has been filed in the town police station here under different sections of the Indian Penal Code and the SC&ST Atrocities Act 1989. He demanded that the deputy commissioner should immediately restore the petty shop where the lady was undertaking fish sales.
Owner of the shop, Ashok Kadabettu, said that his family was somehow run out of the income earned by performing tiger dance. "Due to lockdown, we are finding it hard to manage the expenses. Therefore, we were running a fish shop in government land. We were given oral permission by the municipal commissioner and the MLA apart from the councillor to set up a shop. On July 5, the shop was cleared. There are many unauthorised structures in the city. I want to know how many of them have been evicted. The municipality is using its power to crush the poor people. We should be allowed to resume business at the same spot," he demanded.
Radha Ashokraj Kadabettu, Pramod Uchila and Madhukar Mudrady were present at the press conference.