Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur

Kundapur, Dec 20: The Varahi project which has been repeatedly in the news for being unscientific, came into focus once again on Friday December 19 evening, as blasting of rocks at Kirlady in Irbail, reportedly without any warning, caused injury to a woman. The area comes under Shankaranaryana police station limits.

Vanaja Shetty (38) who was inside her house at the time of the incident, got injured and has been admitted to Kundapur government hospital.

Work is going on a 11 km canal at Kirlady in Irbail, as part of the Varahi project. From the past few days, rocks and boulders were being blasted and powdered for this purpose, said Vanaja's brother Pratap.

During the blasting activity on Friday, the rocks hit Vanaja and injured her near the eyes, hand and waist, it is alleged.

Speaking to reporters, Vanaja's relatives said that the blasting activity has been taking place without any prior warning to the locals. On Thursday, the rocks damaged some items in Babi Devadiga's house, they claimed. "Though the blastng activity has been taking place in such vast proportions, the engineer of the company that has the contract for the work has not bothered to visit the spot," the locals said.

Protest against doctor

Meanwhile, the locals protested against the duty doctor at Kundapur government hospital alleging that he refused to cooperate when Vanaja was brought in for treatment. The doctor allegedly asked her family members if they were bringing her there so that they could claim compensation later. Vanaja's family members and locals grew furious at this and demanded an explaination from the medical officers. The doctor reportedly said that he would quit and walked away to his car, but was stopped by the locals and forced to return. It is also learnt that though Vanaja had minor injuries, the locals who brought her demanded advanced treatment, which irked the doctor.