As the district administration is making arrangements at Kittur Rani Chennamma hostel at Kadabahalli and Morarji Desai Residential School at Somanahalli to quarantine migrants from Maharashtra, the locals staged a flash protest here on Tuesday.
As Minister K C Narayana Gowda and the officials visited the spot to inspect the arrangements, farmers and leaders of various parties staged a protest in front of the residential school. They laid a siege to the minister's car and demanded that the migrants should not be quarantined in their taluk for any reason. This resulted in a heated exchange of words between the minister and others.
However, the police intervened and brought the situation under control. Speaking to reporters after inspecting the premises, Narayana Gowda said the district administration is making arrangements in all taluks to prepare for any consequences in future. "It is wrong for the migrants to enter the district secretly. I request the people to voluntarily come forward to undergo the tests and get quarantined. If you visit the villages secretly, you are risking the lives of your families," he said.
Reacting to the statements about Mumbai migrants, Gowda said, "This is not the time to do politics. I did not ask the migrants to return. The people of other taluks would not be quarantined here."
Speaking to reporters MLA Suresh Gowda said, "We are watching the BJP government's actions, but remained silent, not to embarrass it. It is a sensitive area as there are markets, schools and colleges around the residential school. Let them quarantine the people in their respective taluk. How can they quarantine more than 2,000 people from Maharashtra in Nagamangala taluk? It is not right for the minister to term farmers as goondas."