Ten members of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) Udupi district unit were arrested when they started shouting slogans and wanted to enter the venue of a meeting organised by Jaya Sri Krishna Parisara Premi Samiti (JSKPPS) on the coal-based thermal power plant of Udupi Power Corporation Ltd (UPCL) here on Saturday.
They were later released.
There was tight security near the venue as the police anticipated trouble. The venue of the JSKPPS meeting was the Madhava Krishna Hall in the Hotel Kediyoor complex here. The KRRS activists were shouting slogans against JSKPPS and its founder Jayakrishna Shetty.
KRRS district unit general secretary Shashidhar Shetty told presspersons that Mr. Shetty had invited them to participate in the meeting. But the police did not allow the members of the KRRS to attend the meeting. KRRS district unit president Vijaykumar Hegde said Mr. Shetty was misleading people of the district by giving false information in favour of the thermal plant.
Circle Police Inspector S.V. Girish said the arrest was a precautionary measure.
At the meeting, Mr. Shetty said there was no power problem in the district after the UPCL' s thermal power plant started generating power. The JSKPPS was opposed to the rehabilitation package planned for the evacuees of the thermal plant, which was the worst in the country.
The MPs and MLAs of the region should come out in support of the people, Mr. Shetty said.
