Endosulfan claims 37 lives

BANGALORE, December 23, 2009: On Wednesday it was the turn of former Minister and MLA Shobha Karandlaje to hit out her political opponents in the party. She bagged the occasion in both hands and lashed out at the senior Reddy Minister in the Yeddyurappa government.

Following Revenue Minister G Karunakara Reddy's poor reply to Endosulfan that created health hazards for several people in Dakshina Kannada, Ms Karnadlaje poured many questions to the Minister and sought apt replies. When the Minister unable to provide satisfactory reply, the Chief Minister intervened and satisfied Ms Karandlaje.

Mr Reddy said that the government would take action based on the report given by the Regional Commissioner on the issue. Ms Karandlaje shot back and said already several reports have been submitted. How many more years you need to get reports. There was pin drop silence in the Assembly when the former Minister hit out at Mr Reddy.

Congress members Vasanth Bangera, Sharana Prakash Patil, Opposition leader Siddaramaiah and T B Jayachandra (Congress) also spoke on the subject.

She said the Kerala Government approved a comprehensive scheme for the treatment and rehabilitation of people afflicted by the use of Endosulfan in cashew plantations in Kasaragod district.

Pesticides claimed lives of 37 persons in Puttur, Belthangady taluks of Dakshina Kannada district and Karkala taluk in Udupi district.

Mr B S Yeddyurappa told the Legislative Assembly that he would appeal to the Central Government to ban spraying of Endosulfan using helicopters on cashew plantations.

In the next meeting of Chief Ministers in Delhi, I will convince the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the need to ban Endosulfan based pesticides.

A total of 137 persons, who have been suffering from diseases caused by pesticide in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, would get a compensation of Rs 50,000. Those who have been rendered physically disabled would be paid monthly pension of Rs 1,000 for their sustenance, he said while intervening during the reply to a call attention notice given by former minister Shobha Karandlaje (BJP), who had recently visited the areas.

The Chief Minister had admitted that the government had received several reports of adverse impact on the health of both people and the cattle by the extensive use of Endosulfan and its based pesticides.

Over 200 people in Belthangady and Puttur taluks in Dakshina Kannada district were suffered deformity due to extensive use of Endosulfan on cashew plants in several villages in two districts, the Chief Minister said.

Earlier drawing the attention of the State Government, Ms Karandlaje said that many people were died after suffering for long and another 18 people had committed suicide without able to access for the treatment.

Several people have been suffering from mental and physical disabilities following spraying of pesticides on cashew between 1980 and 2000, which has claimed 37 lives.

The BJP member also demanded the State Government for filing criminal cases against the pesticide company.

No more lathi charge

Under fire from the opposition over the recent lathi charge on farmers in Chamarajanagar and Davanagere, the BJP government in Karnataka today said there would no be such incidents in the future.

"In future, there will be no lathicharge on farmers," the chief minister announced in the state assembly while replying to a debate on the issue.

Rejecting the opposition charge that his government was anti-farmer, Yeddyurappa also ordered withdrawal of all cases booked against them during their protest.

The chief minister said he would meet farmers, who are on padayatra from Chamarajanagar to Bangalore at Bidadi, and hold parleys with them after accepting Congress leader Siddaramaiah's suggestion.

He, however, rejected the Congress' demand for dropping land acquisition in Davanagere, over which farmers protested leading to police lathicharge on December 11.

"The land was acquired during Congress-JDS coalition government headed by N Dharam Singh and not by my government. It is meant for providing sites to poor. There is no question of dropping the acquisition proceedings," Yeddyurappa said.

Congress and JDS, then, staged a walkout demanding a judicial probe into the lathi charge and suspension of deputy commissioner and superintendent of police of Chamarajnagar district.

Mangolorean

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