JOIN USAnjaneya faces Opposition wrath
Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya was at the receiving end from the members of the Opposition in the Legislative Council on Tuesday over his suggestion to vehicle drivers to take pregnant women safely without haste on the bumpy Bengaluru-Mysore Road.
It all began during the question hour when T A Saravana, (JD-S) pointed out the plight of vehicle users on the busy Bengaluru-Mysore Road, which has a number of road humps.
He said that pregnant women were facing problems while travelling on this stretch because of the unscientific humps. Anjaneya, who was replying on behalf of his Cabinet colleague Public Works Minister H C Mahadevappa, said, “If there are pregnant women travelling in a vehicle, the driver should drive slowly. If there are no humps, accidents are bound to occur.”
The reply was sufficient to provoke the members of Opposition, both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) to lash out at the minister.
“How can you say that?” Saravana questioned. “You cannot suggest people to drive slow,” said the Leader of the Opposition K S Eshwarappa.
When Vimala Gowda (BJP) sought to know whether the minister would order even the pregnant women who are in labour pain to slow down due to road humps, the minister was found making all efforts to calm the Opposition. The matter ended with the intervention of Council Chairman D H Shankaramurthy.
In a written reply to another question by T John (Congress), Minister for Public Works Dr H C Mahadevappa said that the department would clear 108 unscientific road humps on the stretch, as decided in a meeting on September 30 last year by State Level Technical Advisory Committee.
Accordingly, a proposal had been sent to the Centre to replace them with 47 scientific humps on November 15.