The Hindu : Karnataka / Madikeri News : `Differences in party will be sorted out'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 14, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Madikeri

`Differences in party will be sorted out'

By Our Staff Correspondent

MADIKERI, SEPT. 13. The Minister for Labour and Haj, Tanvir Sait, who is also Kodagu district in-charge Minister, has assured the members of the Kodagu District Congress Committee and party workers that minor differences among the party leaders and cadres will be sorted out.

Addressing party workers here today, Mr. Sait called upon them not to worry about the stability of the State Government.

He appealed to them to sink their differences and brace themselves for the gram panchayat and other elections in January next.

Mr. Sait was presented with a barrage of problems of the district by the KDCC, Madikeri city wing and party workers. He said he would lead a delegation of former Ministers and elected representatives from the Congress to the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, to present Kodagu's problems and seek Government help.

Tree rights

The party workers urged Mr. Sait to impress upon the Government to accord tree rights to the landowners in Kodagu. The circular issued by the Forest Department banning felling on "Bane" lands in the district should be withdrawn.

Mr. Sait said he would ensure a grand Madikeri Dasara this year despite resource crunch. He said a Rs. 58-crore proposal had been approved to develop Kodagu as a tourist destination, but it did not take off due to lack of response from private participants. The scheme was revised to Rs. 10 crores some time ago, of which Rs. 3 crores had been released to the district.

The former Minister, M.M. Nanaiah, lamented that he was targeted for the Congress' defeat in Madikeri and Virajpet in the previous elections.

Charge against BJP

The president of the KDCC, Veena Achaiah, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of hatching a conspiracy to defeat the Congress in the elections to various bodies in the district. She denied reports appearing in a section of the press that the Congress was a divided house in Kodagu.

Mahabaleshwar Bhat, in a memorandum, said the KDCC wanted Mr. Sait to impress upon the Centre, through the State Government, the need for waiver of interests on coffee loans, according tree rights to landholders, and steps to complete land surveys, develop tourism and stop eviction of occupants of forest lands.

The president of the Madikeri city unit of the Congress, Gokulnath Naik, called for steps to shift the private bus station and develop Man's Compound as a District Stadium.

The former president of the Kodagu Zilla Panchayat, K.P. Chandrakala, said the Rs. 15-crore drinking water package to Kodagu awaiting Cabinet approval should be expedited.

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