Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)

Mangaluru, Jun 11: Making clear their objection to the visits of union law minister D V Sadananda Gowda and former union minister Dr M Veerappa Moily to the district over the controversial Yettinahole project, the activists of Netravati Rakshana Samyukta Samiti on Saturday June 11 staged a protest waving black flags against them at Town Hall here.

Sadananda Gowda and Veerappa Moily were scheduled to attend a programme at Town Hall. But neither them nor any of the ministers turned up.

President of Netravati Rakshana Samyukta Samiti Vijay Kumar Shetty said, "We have symbolically organized this protest here today but none of them came. We will continue this protest and even intensify it next time when these ministers visit the district. It is not late. Veerappa Moily, Sadananda Gowda or chief minister Siddaramaiah should withdraw this project. If they do not do so, we will continue our fight through court and hold more protests."

Convener of Netravati Rakshana Samyukta Samiti Satyajit Suratkal said, "As this is a private programme we do not want to cause trouble, so we have symbolically staged this protest. Whenever these people visit the district we will continue to protest, even more strongly. Currently they (Moily and DVS) may be representing Chikkaballapur and Bengaluru politically but it is this district that gave them political existence. If they try to cheat this district we will strongly condemn them and continue our protests in the days to come."

Entreating people not to invite DVS and Moily for programmes in future, convener of Netravati Rakshana Samyukta Samiti M G Hegde said, "We urge all the organizations of this district not to invite these two people. If they are invited then we will protest against the organizers too. They have cheated the people of this district."

Paschima Ghatta Samrakshana Samiti state convener Somshekar said, "Veerappa Moily, Sadananda Gowda and advocate general of the state are the people who are creating hatred between the people of Kolar and Dakshina Kannada. They are not only against democracy but they are anti-nationals too. It is sure that all these people will go to jail in the coming days. We have been protesting and fighting legally for the past one-and-a-half-years but as of now there have been no efforts to talk to the protesters from Dakshina Kannada. We have all the documents to show how much money has been paid to the politicians and high command and will release them at the right time. Veerappa Moily and superintendent engineer of KNNL claim that they have got clearance from the Green Tribunal which is not true. This is a contempt of court and they should apologize through the media."

Harikrishna Bantwal said, "In the coming days we will hold an intense protest by bringing all the religious heads of all the communities together. They will lead the protest and we will fight against this project."