Karnataka CM Directs Officials to Maintain Law and Order Over Cauvery, Ensure Eligible Voters Are Not Deleted in SIR
Bengaluru, August 11: Karnataka CM D.K. Shivakumar on Tuesday directed officials to maintain law and order in Mandya district over the Cauvery water issue and ensure that eligible voters are not deprived of their constitutional right to vote during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
Interacting with government officers and employees through video conference from Vidhana Soudha, Shivakumar also asked officials to focus on the formation of Bharat Jodo Sanghas and take precautions to prevent drinking water shortages.
Addressing the Mandya Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police, Shivakumar said the government would decide how much Cauvery water should or should not be released to Tamil Nadu, while the district administration and police were responsible for maintaining law and order.
He directed them to ensure that no untoward incident occurred in Mandya over the Cauvery issue.
Shivakumar said water could not always be held back and that if the Kabini reservoir filled completely, water would flow out. Farmers, he said, would have to decide on crops based on the quantity of water available in reservoirs.
He asked officials to create awareness among farmers about water storage and cropping decisions. Referring to climate variability, he said the state was facing a difficult situation and could no longer assume normal rainfall, as rain could either arrive or fail.
On the SIR exercise, Shivakumar instructed officials to work carefully and ensure that genuine voters were not excluded. He said eligible voters should under no circumstances lose their constitutional right to vote and that officials had a duty to assist them.
He also directed officials to prepare and distribute pamphlets containing information required to create awareness about the establishment of Bharat Jodo Sanghas at the Zilla Panchayat level and about public service.
According to information shared during the interaction, the video conference with government employees was conducted across 750 locations in the state and was attended by more than 2.50 lakh officers and employees.
The interaction reviewed the progress of work in different districts and brought practical problems faced at the field level to the CM’s attention. During the session, Shivakumar suggested solutions to several issues and cautioned officials about problems that could arise in the future.
During one exchange on the SIR process, Shivakumar asked a tahsildar about the progress of the exercise. When the official replied that everything was going well, Shivakumar asked how many votes had been deleted and how many voters had been retained.
The tahsildar responded that 42,000 votes had been deleted in the constituency. Shivakumar then questioned what officials were doing and asked about the roles of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and Booth Level Agents (BLAs), and how genuine voters were being assisted.
Shivakumar reiterated that officials must ensure eligible voters do not lose their voting rights during the revision process.
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