Despite Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra restricting social, political, religious and cultural events for a week from August 1 to prevent the surge of COVID-19 in the district, some events went on smoothly in Mangaluru and Bantwal on Sunday.
The Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee (DKDCC) organised in its auditorium the swearing-in ceremony of Vishwas Das as president of DKDCC’s Backward Classes unit.
“This event was planned a fortnight ago and guests came from Bengaluru. As the order (of the Deputy Commissioner) came late last night, we could not do any changes and we went ahead with the event,” DKDCC president and MLC K. Harish Kumar told reporters. He added that the party will not hold any more events till the order is in force.
The auditorium was jampacked with party workers. Congress leaders, including MLC B.K. Hariprasad, former legislators J.R. Lobo, Mohiuddin Bawa and Ivan D’Souza and All India Congress Committee secretary (in-charge of Kerala) P.V. Mohan participated in the function.
A team of officials from Mangaluru City Corporation visited the Congress office and issued a notice to Mr. Kumar. “The function was held without taking permission of the corporation. There was also violation of social distancing norms,” said corporation Commissioner Akshy Sridhar. After a reply from Mr. Kumar comes, further action will be taken, he added.
The Bharatiya Janata Party held a meeting of members of its District Executive Committee at Sparsha Kala Mandira in Bantwal. Apart from the executive committee members, party MLAs D. Vedavyas Kamath, Y. Bharat Shetty, Sanjeeva Matandoor, Harish Poonja and Rajesh Naik U. participated in it. Defending their decision to hold the meeting, BJP district president Sudarshan Moodbidri said that only 36 people participated in the meeting. “We have not violated norms. Social distancing was followed,” he said.
The Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy gave away its honorary and book awards for 2020 at the Town Hall in the afternoon. Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyas Kamath and Mayor Premanand Shetty participated in the function. There were only a few people in the audience.
