From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Feb 28: The unruly protests by the Sangh Parivar activists against the visiting Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to participate in a private programme in Mangaluru on Saturday was a black spot on the culture of the coastal Karnataka, especially the Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister U T Khader said in Bengaluru on Monday, February 27.
Speaking to reporters, he said opposition to the Kerala Chief Minister’s visit and the unruly protests would not augur well in building relations between the people of the two States, particularly Dakshina Kannada district, which shares boundary with Kerala.
Though the police had tightened security, the office of Vijayan’s Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), was set on fire by unidentified persons in Mangaluru’s Thokkottu.
Several buses were stoned causing inconvenience to the public as well as students appearing for examinations, he said.
Peace and communal harmony in the coastal district was disturbed following protests by activists of Sangh Parivar outfits, including RSS and VHP, he said.
1 litre Kerosene a month to BPL families
Turning to his department, the minister said the Food and Civil Supplies Department has decided to supply a litre of kerosene per month to all BPL families even if they have LPG gas connections following directions from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
However, only families residing in rural areas are eligible to obtain this at a cost of Rs 25.
The department has stopped supply of kerosene to families having LPG connections since the Centre does not reimburse the subsidy amount.
Linking Aadhaarcard details with the department has been made mandatory from April 1. No rations would be given to families who have not linked their Aadhaar numbers with the department.
Khader said that families not having LPG gas connections will continue to get three litres of kerosene per month.
In the recent past, a large number of legislators and Congress workers submitted petitions to the Chief Minister stating that families having LPG connections too should be given kerosene since there was delay in the supply of LPG cylinders by private companies.