Mangaluru (The Hindu): Mangaluru Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza has urged people to fight for their land and water. He said that communities should work together to make the region a place of communal harmony.

At a civic reception on the occasion of his 75{+t}{+h}birthday here on Tuesday, Bishop D’Souza said that he was glad to see representatives from different religious communities participating in the function to honour him. “It is not an honour for me but an honour for people at large. This is a good sign of communal harmony,” he said.

Throughout his 50 years of priesthood, Bishop D’Souza said, he followed the path of Jesus and spread love to people without making any distinction of the community they belonged to. Unlike hospitals and schools that are commercial in nature, Bishop D’Souza said, those managed by dioceses are compassionate for the poor and needy persons and are ensuring that they are not denied of health care and education.

Earlier, Swami Jitakamanandaji, head of the Mangaluru unit of Ramakrishna Mutt, said that a fine example of Bishop D’Souza’s concern for the poor was his efforts to subsidise education of poor students of the mutt at the Cascia School.

Khatib of Kendra Jumma Masjid Sadakkal Fiaz, surgeon Shantaram Shetty and Archbishop of Bengaluru Bernard Moras spoke. Minister for Forest, Ecology and Environment B. Ramanath Rai, MLA J.R. Lobo, MLC Ganesh Karnik, Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim and Police Commissioner M. Chandra Sekhar participated in the function.