'GP voters' list tampered at panchayat-level'

Names of 100 voters from ward 2 has been added to ward 1 in Ullal

Addressing a news conference here on Wednesday, Khader said that in Ullal Panchayat, it has been noticed that the names of 100 voters from ward 2 has been added to ward 1.
He said that while the election notification states that there will be no change in the wards and the voters’ list, the list which was used for last Gram Panchayat election, Legislative Assembly and Parliamentary elections should have been used during this GP election too. But due to reasons unknown, the list has been tampered and the voters have been added to one specific ward from another.

Khader said that there are many instances where the members of the same family are divided in different wards. “There are examples where the husband’s name is mentioned in one ward while the wife’s name is found in some other ward, but in the same door number,” he said at a place called K C Nagar in Ullal, the residents of Poomannu area have to go to Narlapadil to cast their votes, which is about 3 kms from Poomannu, brushing aside the rule that polling booth should be within a distance of 1 km. Citing these examples, Khader opined that there has been deliberate attempts by the officials to tamper with the voters’ list either for monetary gains or due to political pressure. He said that the issue has been brought to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner who has directed the Assistant Commissioner to visit the spot and submit a report by Wednesday evening.

Sea erosion

Khader said that a first of its kind, two submersible break water reef will come up in Kotepura-Ullal area soon as an initiative to control sea erosion.

He said that out of the total funds of Rs 1,400 crore allocated for coastal development in three states — Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka, a sum of Rs 238 crore will be given for Ullal area alone for providing permanent solution for sea erosion. Out of this said funds, a sum of Rs 160 crore will utilised in Kotepura-Ullal area while about Rs 71 crore will be used for infrastructure development and survey works.

The project has received approval from Ministry of Environment and Forest, CRZ and Finance.