An official communiqué from the Kadaba tehsildar shows five nodal officers appointed to supervise the bringing of people from gram panchayats.
Published Sep 01, 2022 | 7:06 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 01, 2022 | 7:30 PM
PM Narendra Modi paying homage at the Samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi, at Rajghat, on the occasion of 76th Independence Day, in Delhi on August 15, 2022. (Supplied)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka has appointed nodal officers to ensure crowds gather at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s event.
Modi is scheduled to visit Mangaluru on Friday, 2 September, and inaugurate multiple projects.
In a move that raises questions about the misuse of government machinery and resources, the state’s Revenue Department has asked tehsildars to appoint nodal officers to ensure that people are brought to the venue from gram panchayats to attend Modi’s event.
A communiqué from the office of the tehsildar in the Kadaba taluk of the Dakshina Kannada district, a copy of which is with South First, shows that five nodal officers have been appointed to supervise the process of bringing in crowds.
Official order from Kadaba Tehsildar appointing nodal officers to supervise crowd gathering for PM Modi’s event. (South First)
“The prime minister is arriving in Mangaluru on 2 September. For the event, the Kadaba taluk administration has asked all gram panchayat members and officials to bring people from their respective gram panchayats starting at 6 am,” said the letter dated 30 August and signed by the Kadaba tehsildar.
“The following officials have been appointed as nodal officers to supervise the process and ensure gram panchayat members and officials bring people in a systematic manner. The nodal officers should submit a report on it to this office,” added the letter, naming five nodal officers who had been assigned 22 villages between them to ensure crowds arrive at the prime minister’s event.
South First reached out to other tehsildars in the Dakshina Kannada district to find out if they had received similar orders.
The Dakshina Kannada district has eight Tehsils: Bantwal, Belthangady, Kadaba, Mangaluru, Moodabidiri, Mulki, Puttur, and Sullia.
“All tehsildars have been asked to appoint nodal officers to supervise the gathering of crowds. I have passed similar orders, too, following directions from higher-ups. Gram panchayats have been asked to identify beneficiaries of government schemes and bring them to the event,” one of the tehsildars from the Dakshina Kannada district told South First.
Modi’s visit to Dakshina Kannada also assumes political significance given that this was the district where BJP cadres rebelled against party leaders, even targeting their car, following the murder of BJP Yuva Morcha worker Praveen Nettaru.
The prime minister’s visit, politically, is also aimed at calming the nerves of the cadres in the saffron bastion of coastal Karnataka.
