DYFI, Youth Cong flay shifting RAF camp from Mangaluru to Shivamogga

District Youth Congress President Mithun Rai and DYFI State President Muneer Katipalla flayed the decision to shift RAF battalion base camp from Mangaluru to Bhadravathi in Shivamogga district.

"The Union government had sanctioned RAF camp to Jaipur (Rajasthan), Mangaluru (Karnataka), Hajipur (Bihar), and Nuh (Haryana) and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The sudden shifting of the base camp is an injustice to Dakshina Kannada district," Rai told media persons and sought to know why MLAs and MP from Dakshina Kannada have not protested against the move. "Is Shivamogga MP more influential than Dakshina Kannada MP?" he asked.

He said the RAF Inspector General, along with other officials, had inspected the land in Badaga Ekkar and had held meetings with district administration in 2016. The RAF is required for a communally sensitive district like Dakshina Kannada, which has best transportation facility and connectivity to all neighbouring states, he added.

DYFI State President Muneer Katipalla said the MP should apologise to the people of the district owning moral responsibility and give an explanation for the shifting of the campus. "If the battalion is set up here, it would have helped in checking violence," he felt.

Katipalla said the government had earmarked land for RAF battalion base camp at Badaga Ekkaru in the past and measures were initiated to identify additional land for the campus. "All of a sudden, without any discussion, the batallion campus was shifted to Bhadravathi," he fumed.