Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Attack on Dalits: CPI (M) criticises State Government

Special Correspondent

`Atrocities have increased sharply after the JD(S)-BJP Government assumed office'

GULBARGA: The State unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday accused the State Government of failing to arrest the increasing incidents of attacks and atrocities on Dalits.

State Secretariat members of the party G.C. Bayyareddy, Maruti Manpade and K. Neela, addressing a press conference here, charged that the incidents of atrocities and attacks on Dalits in had sharply increased after the JD(S)-BJP Government assumed office.

Every action of the State Government and its failure to stem the rot in the beginning and its failure to provide help to the affected Dalits in all the incidents of atrocities so far went to prove that the Government was interested only in appeasing the vested interests in the upper castes for their votes.

Mr. Bayyareddy pointed out that in the serious incident of attack on Dalits at Chitta village in Basavakalyan taluk in Bidar district a few weeks ago, the Government had not responded immediately in the way it should have by arresting the accused or ending the social boycott on the Dalits which was there for more than a month. Social Welfare Minister Balachandra Jarkiholi had not visited to the village to hear the woes of the affected Dalits.

The casteist elements in the upper castes had gained confidence now to indulge in violence against the Dalits in view of the laxity on the part of the Government to initiate tough action against them, the leaders of the CPI (M) said.

On the rising incidents of chikungunya in the State, the CPI (M), which met recently in Bangalore, felt that the Government had failed to control the spread of the epidemic.

Mr. Manpade said the State Government had failed to take precautionary measures in preventing the spread of the disease after it was first reported on a large scale in Gulbarga district in January and February. Fogging operations, which were most important for arresting the spread of the disease, had not been taken up in a planned manner in the affected areas.

He said in Gulbarga, the district authorities and the Health Department officials had now asked the gram panchayats to purchase fogging machines.

The gram panchayats had been asked to bear the expenditure from the funds available with them. However, he claimed that most of the gram panchayats had no money to pay the salaries of their employees and were not in a position to purchase the fogging machines.

Mr. Manpade said that the district committee of the party which met on Saturday and Sunday here had decided to organise rasta roko throughout the district on July 24 to draw the attention of the Government to tackle chikungunya in the district and also gherao Ministers visiting the district from Tuesday.

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