Volume 15 | Issue 20
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
BRIEFS Stepping down from the fest brought a few voices back,says Sampath Protest can provoke negative as well as positive reactions, said Vikram Sampath, who recently quit as Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF) director. Page 2
Relief works disrupted by locals, say volunteers Laxmi Narayani Parvati Benu Volunteers helping the Cuddalore flood victims claim that their vehicles were stopped by a group of people. Some of them said that they were beaten up and suspect political involvement. “First they wanted to stick the ADMK political logos in the relief materials. Our truck was locked and so they tried to break it. After a serious fight, the army people came along that route, checked the issue and chucked them out,” said Vishal (name changed on request), a volunteer from Bangalore. Another volunteer, Manoj, said: “We as a team had sent some relief materials in a truck to the flood affected regions. On the way to Cuddalore, some people attacked our team mates and took our materials. We could not identify the people, but some suspect it to be a political activity.” “We do not have any solid proof that they belong to this party. So now most of
the materials are sent through the Collector,” he added. “The local people tried to stop the vehicle and get the materials out, but we managed to get out of the situation,” said a volunteer, Sathish from Bangalore. A few residents of Cuddalore also told the Observer about similar happenings. One of them said that desperate flood victims were attacking the trucks. Another said that he was informed by a volunteer of relief materials looted by locals who are not affected by flood during distribution. He also said that the locals fought with each other for the materials. A facebook post by Aazhi Senthil Nathan about a similar thing, accusing a political party had gone viral over the social media today. It read, “More than 200 vehicles with various good and other materials were stopped in Panruti and forcefully parked in Annaivelankanni polytechnic. It is by Jayalalitha’s police force. Volunteers losing temper and contacted me. At the same time police officials denied any such happening.
Government depts at odds over child rescue stats No two departments in India who are responsible for the inspection and rescue of children under the National Child labour project are unanimous on their official data Page 3
Employees stumped at being asked to submit original documents Certain Bangalore based companies are retaining original documents of employees against their wishes, claim employees. Page 4
Kashmiri writer Azurdah translates Kalburgi’s work An award-winning writer, who was translating MM Kalburgi’s works into Kashmiri when he was assassinated, said that such murders are common in Kashmir. (Top and left) Relief works in flooded areas of Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu. - Picture courtesy: Abdul Azeez
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