Thousands of government employees, wearing black bands, took out a rally here on Tuesday, under the banner of Chamarajanarag District Government Employees’ Association, and staged a dharna outside the district office complex, condemning the assault on Chamarajanagar Deputy Commissioner A.M. Kunjappa by some irate protesters at Gundlupet Circle here on Sunday night.
The rally began from the Chamarajeshwara temple and culminated at the district office complex. The protesters formed a human chain at Bhuvaneshwari Circle. They locked all the gates of the district office complex building before gathering in front of the Chamarajeshwara temple. They condemned the attack on the Deputy Commissioner and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits. They urged the government to provide adequate security to government employees and to initiate steps to arrest the owner and the driver of the lorry involved in the case.
The protesters submitted a memorandum to the Superintendent of Police in this regard.
Meanwhile, government employees at four taluk centres in the district also staged protests by boycotting the work and taking out a rally. They also demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.
Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, president of the District Quarry Association G.M. Heggade condemned the attack on Mr. Kunjappa. He clarified that the association was in no way involved in the attack on Mr. Kunjappa. While stating that the alleged assault on lorry driver by the police was the root cause of the incident, he said the association would also condemn the attack on lorry driver.
There were 55 quarries operating in the district and they were providing jobs to hundreds of people. All quarries were strictly adhering to the rules and regulations. The black quarries were being transported after obtaining permits from the authorities concerned.
The association would extend all cooperation to any investigation, he said.
Chamarajanagar Superintendent of Police Kuldip Kumar R. Jain has said that a special team had been constituted to nab the attackers Four cases had been registered in connection with the incident. Photographs and video clippings were being verified, he said.
In Mandya
Around 200 employees from different government departments, under the banner of Karnataka State Revenue Department Employees’ Association (Mandya), staged a demonstration outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Tuesday, condemning the alleged attack on Chamarajanagar Deputy Commissioner A.M. Kunjappa.
Mr. Kunjappa had suffered injuries when his vehicle was stoned by a protesting crowd near the Gundlupet Circle on the Chamarajanagar-Gundlupet road at Chamarajanagar on Sunday night.
The protesters took out a protest march from the Cauvery Park on Bengaluru-Mysuru highway to the Deputy Commissioner’s office. They raised slogans against the persisting granite lobby at Chamarajanagar and urged the State government to take stringent action against those who assaulted the official.
The protesters urged Superintendent of Police Kuldip Kumar Jain (Chamarajanagar district) to file cases against the attackers under the ‘Goonda Act’.
Later, they submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner M.N. Ajay Nagabhushan.
Vijayalakshmi, Sujatha, B.M. Appajappa, Prameela Devi, Raju, Chandrashekar, Thammanna, Nataraja, Jayarama Murthy, Somashekar and K. Nagesh led the protest.
