Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (HB)

Udupi, Jul 26: Led by former MLA Raghupati Bhat, members of the district Bharatiya Janata party staged a massive protest against the Karnataka housing board in front of the office of the tahsildar, Brahmavar on Monday July 25.

Raghupati Bhat addressing the protestors said, "People of the district, had a lot of expectations over the new minister, but the district in-charge minister, Pramod Madhwaraj still has a mindset of being a new minister and is absorbed in receiving honour from the public."

He added that the former chief minister Jagadish Shettar had reserved 13.20 acres of land to construct a taluk office building at the time when Bhat was MLA of the district. The land is situated in the heart of the city and comes under Varamballi gram panchayat. Now, the housing board has been allotted land for housing sites without taking into consideration the opinions from the locals. The board is using the land for commercial purposes. An interesting point is that the rich people have started purchasing this land.

He alleged that the board has paid Rs 1.80 crore to the government, but they are planning to collect Rs 2.30 crore from buyers of this land.

Bhat further said, "People believe that the state government is in favour of the poor class, but it is going against the interest of the people. The district in-charge minister has been showing great interest in developing the land commercially which has disappointed the people of Brahmavar who want it specifically for taluk office purpose."

"If BJP comes to power in the next constituency assembly polls to be held in 2018, then their first priority will be to announce Brahmavar as a taluk in the first budget," he announced.

"Pramod being the youth service minister, could build a swimming pool or sports related project here even though the area is residential," he said.

Shyamala Kundar, state BJP secretary, Baikady Suprasad Shetty and others were present at the protest.