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`All options will be explored to fight Handigodu syndrome'

Special Correspondent

Assistance of Union Government will be sought, if required: Kumaraswamy

MOTIVATING WORKERS: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy inaugurating a meeting of Janata Dal (S) workers in Sagar in Shimoga on Thursday.

SAGAR (SHIMOGA DISTRICT): Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said here on Thursday that he would make efforts to find a permanent solution to the mysterious Handigodu syndrome, a crippling disease widely prevalent in and around Handigodu village in Sagar taluk.

Speaking to presspersons here, he said the main purpose of spending a night at Handigodu on Thursday was to collect information from people affected by the disease and experts in the Health Department.

He said he would get information from the Social Welfare Department on the steps taken to rehabilitate people afflicted with this disease. Assistance from the Union Government would be sought if required, he added.

When pointed out that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which had taken up the research on the disease, could not come out with an explanation for the cause for the disease, he said he would try and seek its assistance once again.

The Chief Minister said that he would also seek the advice of Ayurveda doctors.

Mr. Kumaraswamy said he was not afraid of the IAS lobby and added that he knew how to keep it under check. He said he had no differences with Chief Secretary to the State Government Prahlad Mahishi. Comments made him about IAS officers not being responsive to problems of the common people were based on his impression. "How do you expect them to solve the problems if they are bound inside their chambers in the Vidhan Soudha?" he asked.

The Chief Minister said a committee comprising officials of the departments of Forest and Revenue had been constituted after a prolonged meeting in Bangalore on Wednesday. It had been asked to submit its report in two months on the extent of the encroachment of forest and the revenue land so that action could be taken to confirm the ownership rights .

Meeting

He emphasised on Thursday the need for party workers to remain united to give a better image of the coalition Government.

Inaugurating a meeting of Janata Dal (S) workers, he said whatever success he had achieved in terms of implementing welfare schemes in fifteen months, it was because of the cooperation of party workers.

Mr. Kumaraswamy said that some of the programmes launched by the coalition Government had won appreciation in other States and added that it was concerned particularly about the plight of the physically challenged, widows and poor people. He had ordered for doubling the monthly pension for widows and the physically disabled from Rs. 200 to Rs. 400, he added.

Later, the Chief Minister inaugurated the KSRTC Bus Stand, the new building of the Taluka Journalists' Association and the Municipal Council building.

Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa was present .

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