From moral policing and vandalising public property, to provocative speeches and communal clashes, Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka has seen much violence in the past few years, and that is one the reasons political leaders believe there is a bottle neck for investments in the district.
On Tuesday, Mangaluru City South MLA JR Lobo at the Invest Dakshina Kannada meet, in which entrepreneurs and companies proposed an investment of about Rs 12,000 crore in the district, said there are many issues in the district that government has brushed aside, which is affecting investor-friendly environment, reported Times of India.
The Hindu quoted Lobo saying, “The government has to discharge its duties with an open mind. Let it provide water, road and power; investors would look after the rest, he said. At the same time, the government should also ensure prevalence of rule of law. Let it also lure some big IT firms to the region, the rest would follow.”
District in-charge minister B Ramanath Rai also reflected the same thoughts and added that the district needs a conducive atmosphere to attract investors. He highlighted issues like moral policing, failure to maintain of law and order and opposition from environmentalists which are pose as roadblocks.
TOI quoted Rai saying, “An environment of communal harmony is very important. Along with eco nomic development through investments in various sectors, we also need to look at the environmental aspects. Economic development should balance the ecology.”
Well, the what the political leader accuse the government of cannot be rubbished as coastal Karnataka districts- Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district in 2015 saw 60 % rise in communal events in a decade. There were as many as 226 communal incidents in 2015 according to PUCL data.
This is an aggregated report from Times of India and The Hindu