Cow slaughter ban bill should be reintroduced: Kota Srinivas Poojary

Mangaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Council MLC Kota Srinivas Poojary has demanded that the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2010, be reintroduced by the coalition government in the state in the upcoming monsoon session of the Legislative Assembly.

Speaking to the media at the Nethravathi block of Circuit House in Mangaluru on Tuesday the MLC said that a few Congress leaders may not be aware of the fact that the BJP-led state government was all set to pass the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act amendment bill in 2010.

“But the bill could not be passed as the term of the BJP government ended and Congress came to power in the state. The Congress-led state government did not pass the amended bill,” said Kota in the backdrop of the Urban Development and district in-charge minister U T Khader’s statement in urging the Union government to totally ban cow slaughter.

Responding to CM’s parliamentary secretary and MLC Ivan D’Souza’s comment that the BJP had failed as an Opposition, Kota asked how successful the state government was. He questioned why the state government has not released the report on the social and economic survey conducted by the previous Congress-led state government and pointed out that the survey was carried out at a cost of Rs 186 crore, utilising one lakh human days.

“The Anwar Manippadi report on the same should be made public” said the MLC and urged the state government to hand over the IMA scam case to CBI and recover the encroached assets of Wakf Board.

Alleging that the state government had totally failed to carry out drought relief measures in the state Kota said, “There is an acute shortage of drinking water. Fodder banks are not opened. The chief minister’s village stay is not being of any help other than increasing the cost burden on the treasury,” he said.

He called the previous Congress-led state government’s move of withdrawing Gazette notification regarding gram panchayat librarians’ minimum wages a setback and said that GP librarians should be paid a minimum monthly wage of Rs 13,200.

“Even though the earlier BJP-led state government had issued a Gazette notification in this regard, the Congress-led government scrapped it and reduced the working hours of librarians from eight hours to four hours and the monthly wages from Rs 13,200 to Rs 5000,” he informed.