Sene activists ‘p****d’ off

By Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Extreme situations call for extreme measures and who would know this better than the people of Gadag - Betageri City municipality who have been fighting for long to get their stinking public toilets repaired. With the civic authorities turning a deaf ear to their repeated pleas, activists of the right-wing Sri Rama Sene did the unthinkable though with amazing results - they took a leak in the premises of the twin city’s municipality as a mark of protest against the failure of the authorities to set things right! The Sene activists had a reason to do so as they had submitted a memorandum to the authorities urging them to repair all public toilets within a week, failing which they would urinate in the municipality. But the authorities did not take the ‘threat’ seriously.

On Tuesday morning, as announced, a dozen activists reached the municipality and started urinating at several locations sending the staff into a tizzy. Though, a few cops were present at the municipality, they were unable to stop the activists from wetting the walls of the municipality. Most of them disappeared after doing their ‘job’ before the men in khaki could reach the spot.

The Sene has now set a week’s deadline for the authorities to repair the toilets, failing which they have threatened to pee in the office of the deputy commissioner too!

Virtually forced to react, Guruprasad, commissioner, Gadag-Betageri Town Municipality said, “we now know about their demands and they will be met immediately”.

Raju Khanappanavar, convener of SRS, Dharwad-Gadag unit, said the public toilets were in a very bad condition but authorities were not responding to their pleas. So, they had to take this step to open the eyes of officials, he added.

(NT would like to place it on record that we do not endorse this form of protest)