Govt support to fish medicine only for this year: Lokayukta

Govt support to fish medicine only for this year: Lokayukta Bathinis Told To Procure Fishlings, Pay Rent To Exhibition Society TIMES NEWS NETWORK  Hyderabad: Making it clear that the state cannot sponsor or support superstitions, Lokayukta Justice B Subhashan Reddy on Wednesday directed the state government to stay away from the conduct of the fish medicine camp held annually by Bathini Harinath Goud. “Except the blind belief among people that this fishling stuffed with some substance would, when swallowed, cure asthma and ailments related to lungs, there is no scientific basis for the same,” the judge said.     However,the Lokayukta allowed the state government to extend logistic support like providing bandobast, water, toilets, ambulance, etc to the camp for this year alone. The Bathinis, however, were directed to procure fishlings on their own for this year’s event, to be held between 8 am and 8 pm on June 8 and 9. “No such support would be available to the organisers of this camp from next year onwards,” Justice Subhashan Reddy said and ruled that the organisers should make arrangements on their own from next year onwards.     The judge made this order after hearing petitioner Atchuta Rao of AP Baalala Hakkula Sangham who wanted the court to direct the organisers not to administer this medicine to children. The judge heard from the authorities of GHMC, police and revenue wings their side of the story on the reasons for their support to the event.     The judge in his nine-page order said that both the AP High Court and the city civil court had earlier held that this fish medicine had no medicine in it and there was no basis to show that this medicine would cure any ailments. However, the judge said that since the courts or experts who went into the issue earlier came to a conclusion that this substance was neither useful nor harmful to humans, he could not direct the authorities to prevent Harinath Goud from organising this camp. “He is not publicising the event and people come every year to avail this ‘medicine’,” the judge said. “It is like faith healing and Harinath can be seen as a faith healer,” he said. Justice Subhashan Reddy further ruled that the Exhibition Society which charges Rs 2.7 lakh for letting out the venue for the fish prasadam event, should collect the same from Harinath Goud. It can offer him the facility and amount can be collected in installments, he added.     Later, addressing the media, Subhashan Reddy said that the revenue authorities had informed him that the land that was allotted to Bathini Harinath Goud by the state in Hyderabad earlier was being taken back because the land was not put to use by him for the specified purpose so far.