Arathi Krishna meets NRK businessmen, labourers in Jubail

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday interacted with District Collectors (DCs) and Superintendents of Police (SPs) regarding COVID- 19 situation in the State.

In the meeting held through a video conference, he said that DCs, SPs and the District Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) be divided into taluks and ordered them to take appropriate measures to control COVID-19.

He was speaking today in a video conversation with District Collector, District Panchayat Chief Executives and Superintendents of Police in Kalaburgi, Vijayapura, Udupi, Yadagiri, Raichuru and Belagavi districts regarding measures to control the spread of COVID-19.

The Chief Minister instructed officials to monitor the investments in taluka centres. He also ordered to create a task force in the village panchayats, who will be monitoring things closely.

The Chief Minister also directed for the creation of ward-level watchdog committee in every village and city and an FIR should be registered in case of a home quarantine violation.

Home Minister Basavaraja Bommai, Revenue Minister R Ashok, Chief Secretary TM Vijayabhaskar, Development Commissioner Vandita Sharma, Police Chief Director Praveen Sood, Health Department general secretary Javed Akhtar and secretary Pankaj Kumar Pandey were also present in the meeting.

Mangaluru, July 5: Two children died after getting trapped under the debris of a landslide which occurred at Banglagudde in Kaikamba on the outskirts of Mangaluru today.

The deceased are identified as Safwan (16) and Sahala (10).

The rescue teams including personnel from NDRF, fire service and police brought out the body after four hours of rescue operation.

According to sources, landslides occurred at 12:30 pm and of the five members, three ran out of the house. The two kids got trapped in the debris.

The heavy rain in the last two days has softened the soil of the hillock. An Auto-rickshaw, lorry and a bike too have buried under the soil.

It was said that caving in of the hillock continued even when the rescue operation was in progress, thus making the rescue operation difficult.

District-in-Charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary who visited the spot said two houses have been completely damaged and inmates of 14 houses that are facing the problem in the vicinity will be shifted to safer locations.

House collapse due to landslide in Gurupura; 2 children reportedly trapped under debris pic.twitter.com/ntyZRkum4e

— coastaldigest.com (@coastaldigest) July 5, 2020

Bengaluru, Apr 7: The Karnataka Government indicated today that it is too early to take a call now on lifting the nation-wide lockdown but said it’s in favour of its extension in COVID-19 hotspots in the country by at least an additional two weeks.

“We need to see for another few days before taking final call,” Medical Education Minister Sudhakar K, who is in-charge of all matters related to COVID-19, told news agency Press Trust of India when asked if the State is in favour of the rollback after the 21-day period ends on April 14.

The minister opined that the decision on its withdrawal should be based on the COVID-19 pandemic situation at the time in terms of number of cases and response to the outbreak.

When the lockdown is lifted, it has to be in a staggered and phased manner, and not at one go, Mr Sudhakar stressed.

“Where there are red alerts and zones, those zones, in my opinion, should continue to be in a lockdown situation at least for two weeks…till this month-end, I will request them (the Centre) to do this,” he said.

The Telananga Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday appealed to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend the 21-day national lockdown imposed to contain COVID-19 outbreak beyond April 14, saying it was essential to save lives.

Mr Sudhakar said the Karnataka government is facing financial challenges because of drastic fall in revenues due to the lockdown, adding, it would take “tough decisions” to cut expenditure.

The Finance Department is in the process of evaluating the state’s fiscal position.

“Finance department is gathering information…what is the need now, what should be the overall expenditure, how much we can save; financial support for unorganised and organised sector, along with stimulus to other sectors, we have to see where we stand financially,” the minister said.

“Based on that, we have to take certain steps for sure because after all the government runs on the exchequer money. Once the exchequer is stopped because of lockdown, we are not getting GST, no motor vehicle tax. No tax money is coming.”

Government also has to run right? he said.

He said commitment and obligations with regard to paying interest on loans taken at the national and international level would have to be met.

“So, there are some financial constraints, and financial challenges before the government. The Government will take tough decisions only after studying the entire finance (position of the State).”

The Telangana government last week announced pay cut for government employees.

The Union Cabinet on Monday approved a 30 per cent cut in salaries of all Members of Parliament and a two-year suspension of the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme.