‘Govt. looting vehicle owners to fill its exchequer’

B.R. Patil, former Deputy Chairman of Karnataka Legislative Council, alleged that the BJP-led State government was resorting to looting vehicle owners to fill its exchequer and asked the government to go begging instead of harassing people for minor violations. He also asked why the police ws not showing the same interest in curbing other illegal activities like gambling, illegal stand extraction, rapes on women and children, illegal sale of liquor and drugs and violations under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

‘Police across the State are stopping all the vehicles on road and forcibly collecting fines for minor violations. It is learnt that each police station is asked to register 500 cases of violation every month and collect fines. There is no written order in this regard. But, the police are doing it on the oral orders of the higher-ups. In the Kalaburagi district, there are 40 police stations and the police teams from each station are on road harassing drivers and collecting fines. The police are not showing the same interest in curbing other crimes like gambling, murder, sexual abuse of women and children, illegal sale of drugs and liquor, illegal sand mining and violations under the Essential Commodities Act which are on constant rise. If the government has no money, it should go for begging instead of troubling people,’ Mr. Patil said at a press conference in Kalaburagi on Sunday.

The Congress leader also alleged that the police were specifically targeting vehicles from Maharashtra to extract money on the pretext of pretty violations. ‘Recently, the mother of a Congress leader died in Kalaburagi and many relatives from Maharashtra came for her last rites. They had to pay ₹20,000 to the police who had stopped them on the way,’ Mr. Patil said.

When asked about the Registrar (In-charge) of CUK writing a letter to Mohan Bhagwat, RSS chief, on the university letterhead seeking an appointment with the latter, Mr. Patil said that this was part of turning CUK into the hub of right-wing activities. ‘Mr. Bhagwat does not hold a constitutional position. Nor is he an educationist. I don’t understand why a Registrar of the university should meet him. If he meets on his personal capacity, nobody would have a problem. But, meeting as the Registrar is a problem. The CUK is slowly turning into a hub of RSS these days. Mr. Donur’s meeting with the RSS chief is a part of this larger design and I condemn it,’ Mr. Patil said.