The Urdu board in the Municipal Council building at Bhatkal finally removed

Bhatkal (Karnataka) – The Urdu board in the Municipal Council building here was removed with tight security of Police in the presence of the District Collector and District Police. President of the Municipal Council, Parvez Kashimji and Urdu-speaking Corporators protested against the removal of the said board.

Urdu name board removed by Bhatkal Municipal Council from its board after protests by VHP & Kannada organisations. pic.twitter.com/ECECAYeNVQ

— News Arena (@NewsArenaIndia) July 2, 2022

The Bhatkal Municipal Corporation removed a board painted in Urdu after a meeting with Uttara Kannada Deputy Commissioner Mullai Muhilan on Friday.@ns_subhash @Cloudniradhttps://t.co/54Y5mD9TvS

— TNIE Karnataka (@XpressBengaluru) July 2, 2022

Boards in Kannada, English and Urdu were put up after having completed the painting of the Bhatkal Municipal Council building. As soon as this was noticed by the workers of the Kannada organisation in Bhatkal, they demanded that it should be removed immediately; but Urdu-speaking individuals took the stand of not removing it under any circumstances. These Urdu speakers ran towards the building and tried to surround it. This generated tension in Bhatkal. Therefore the District Collector Mullai Mugilan conducted a meeting in the presence of District Police Chief Dr Suman Pednekar, Deputy Commissioner and Administrative officers of Bhatkal. Thereafter he conducted a meeting with the President of the Municipal Council, Corporators, and the leaders of ‘Tanjim’, the Supreme Muslim institution. The District Collector made them understand that there was no scope for any other board in other languages than English and Kannada. Later District Collector Mullai Mugilan instructed Chief Officer MK Suresh to remove the board despite the protests.