Karnataka   

Proposal to set up rights panel in districts

CHIKMAGALUR: B. Parthasarathy, member of the Karnataka Human Rights Commission, said on Tuesday that the commission was considering a proposal to set up its units in the districts. A proposal in this regard had been submitted to the State Government.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Parthasarathy said the commission had plans to organise awareness programmes at the panchayat level with the coordination of the National Human Rights Commission.

He said that the members of the State Human Rights Commission had visited the mining areas in Chikkanayakanahalli taluk in Tumkur district where people had set ablaze excavators and equipment of mine owners.

He said that the visit was a result of a petition submitted to the commission by writer U.R. Ananthamurthy, director Nagathihalli Chandrashekar, and others.

The commission had discovered that several persons were involved in mining without permits, he said.

People of some villages were apprehensive that mining would adversely affect the ecology of the area. They had complained that the groundwater level had gone down, dust from the mines had affected agriculture, and trucks transporting ore had damaged the roads.

Mr. Parthasarathy said the commission had instructed the authorities to use Rs. 6.5 crore from the village development fund to improve basic amenities.

The commission had also directed the Police, Forest, and Mines and Geology departments to submit a report by September 22, Mr. Parthasarathy said.

The other important inquiry conducted by the commission was into the hooch tragedy in and around Bangalore, he said.

The commission had sought reports from the secretaries of all departments in this regard, Mr. Parthasarathy said.

With regard to the encounter at Menasinahadya in which five persons, including a suspected naxalite, were killed by the police, Mr. Parthasarathy said that the commission was examining the case.

The commission had urged the State Government to prepare a package for the development of areas affected by naxalites. Most of the complaints received by the commission pertained to the police siding with one party in land disputes, Mr. Parthasarathy said.

The Police Department had issued a circular to all police stations in the State on how land disputes should be handled, Mr. Parthasarathy said.

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