BJP state prez Nalin Kateel’s adopted village far from ‘model’

Team Udayavani, Sep 24, 2019, 3:21 PM IST

Mangaluru: A 72-year-old ailing man, from Balpa village panchayat in Sullia taluk, was carried by his relatives in a wooden chair for over a kilometre since an ambulance failed to reach his locality. A picture of the same has gone viral on social media.

Notably, this village happens to be adopted by none other than BJP MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, who was recently appointed state BJP president, under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, launched by PM Modi in 2014. According to the programme, a member of parliament chooses any one village from the constituency he represents and works towards making it an Adarsha Grama (model village) by undertaking developmental projects.

However, the recent incident which occurred on Sunday highlights the pathetic conditions of the roads which is anything but developed thereby leaving the villagers vulnerable in times of a medical emergency.

The ailing man Ramanna Poojary was suffering from a liver-related ailment and was in a critical condition. Since the ambulance was unable to reach the locality owing to the poor road conditions, he had to be carried on a wooden for over a kilometre where the ambulance was parked, said one of his relatives. Ramanna is presently undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Mangaluru.

The villagers have complained that repeated pleas, made to Kateel, for construction of road have fallen on deaf ears. The lack of road connectivity, which gets far worse during monsoon is a serious issue, which has been highlighted with this incident, said a villager.

Few others even condemned the MP for making false promises at various programmes.