Speaker pulls up two ministers in Assembly

Legislative Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa pulled up two ministers of the Siddaramaiah government for their “disconcerting actions” in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

JD(S) MLA Chikkamadu from HD Kote raised the issue of the Forest department evicting people from forest land under police protection. “I am seeking the Chair to intervene and protect people being evicted from forest lands in my constituency. There is serious standoff between 200 Policemen with fire arms and the locals. Please direct the government to stand down before the situation gets out of hand,” he said.

“Why do the forest officials need police protection? I do not understand this. Put some sense into your Forest Minister who is time and again seeking police protection for evicting people from forest land. The MLA has already intimated me of the situation,” he told Siddaramaiah. The chief minister nodded in agreement with the Speaker.

Underpaid doctors
Thimmappa also pulled up Health Minister U T Khader over the doctors row, during the discussion on North Karnataka issues. JD(S) MLA H D Kumaraswamy and BJP MLA Visvesvara Hegde Kageri both pointed out that doctors were not paid proper salaries and recognition for their services.

Kageri said after the meeting with the government and the chief minister last month, doctors’ salary on contract has been reduced to Rs 14,000 from Rs 28,000 per month. “From where will doctors come if such is the situation? All doctors are leaving,” said Kageri.

Hearing this, Thimmappa asked, “Do you know the reason for such horrendous actions? The Health Minister is not running the department, but it is the officials who are in charge of Health portfolio.”