Mangalore, May 1, 2013:
Photos and text by C D Souza
Congress candidate from Managlore South J R Lobo addressed professionals like doctors,engineers, architects at a function organized in the city today, May 1, 2013 seeking their support in the forthcoming elections. Addressing the gathering he termed Mangalore as a unique place a bustling centre for education, healthcare and business. People from Mangalore have earned good reputation throughout the world. But unfortunately, over the past five years the name of the city has been spoiled by 0.05 percent of the people for various reasons, disturbing co-existence and peace of Mangalore where people of different caste, creed, and religion live. Their disgraceful activities have defamed the name of the city, he pointed out.
He said that the BJP government had failed to prevent attacks of various kinds in the city. “In the last five years three major incidents have taken place – pub attack, attack on churches, and homestay attack. If the state government had been good this wouldn’t have happened in Mangalore. Instead, the government supported such activities and failed to provide proper protection to the victims. My grievance is that the government failed to protect the people and provide good environment to live peacefully,” he said.
Commenting on the demolitiion of Lady Goshen hospital, Lobo said the hospital had been razed down without taking into consideration the proper norms. “The government should deposit 33.3% of the money to be spent on the project before the demolition. This was really irresponsible of the MLA. Later Veerappa Moily brought Rs 23 crore from private firms and laid the foundation stone for the project,” he said.
“The concept of Coastal Development Authority was mine, but the government never gave it importance. The chairman of Coastal Development Authority just roamed around in his beaconed car and did nothing. Even pensions to physically challenged and widows have been delayed,” he pointed out.
“The BJP government was not people-friendly. The poor could not get permission to construct houses on less than 3 cents of land and were made to run from pillar to post. There is no proper infrastructure like footpath and roads. The concrete roads have been constructed without following proper scientific guidelines,” he said.
