Bhat smells conspiracy behind Shiroor seer’s decision to contest polls from Udupi

Mangaluru, Jul 17: An expert team from Bengaluru has arrived here on Friday to study the factors that have led to the sudden spurt in death due to Covid-19 in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka in the recent past.

The team has arrived following a request made by the district administration. The team comprising three experts has already held talks with specialist Doctors, according to official sources.

It will examine the reports on the treatment provided to the patients who have succumbed to the infection and will submit a report citing reasons for the increase in deaths, the sources added.

Dubai, Jul 5: Three Indians, who were repatriated on a chartered flight from the UAE on Friday, have been held in the state of Rajasthan after officials seized gold worth Dh2.2million from them, the government announced on Saturday.

They are likely to be placed under arrest along with 11 others, who were repatriated from Saudi Arabia, from whom gold worth Dh5.5million was seized, a statement from the government tweeted by Press Information Bureau in Rajasthan said.

The gold bars were hidden in emergency lamps, photos attached to the tweets showed.

The 14 passengers had arrived at the Jaipur International Airport by two chartered flights.

They were intercepted by the Customs team at the airport and 31.9kg of gold valued at Rs156,759,820 (Dh7.7million) concealed in the baggage was recovered from these passengers.

Three passengers arrived from Ras Al Khaimah by Spice Jet Flight SG9055 and 12 gold bars/bricks weighing 9.3kg valued at Rs.45,761,100 (Dh2.2million) were recovered from them, the statement said.

The Indian Consulate in Dubai confirmed to Gulf News that the flight was chartered by a private company for repatriating its employees.

It is suspected that the passengers were used as carriers to smuggle gold.

The other 11 accused had arrived from Riyadh and 22.65kg of gold bars, predominantly with Suisse markings, valued at Rs110,998,720 (Dh5.5million) were recovered from them.

“The said recovered gold bars have been seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962. The said passengers are being interrogated and are likely to be placed under arrest in terms of section 104 of the Customs Act, 1962,” the statement added.

Indian media had earlier reported similar cases in which stranded Indians were apparently lured to be carriers for smuggling gold on repatriation flights from various countries.

A spike in gold smuggling attempts using Indians getting repatriated after losing jobs was also reported from the Indian state of Kerala.

Bengaluru, Jul 21: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Tuesday said that everyone has to fight COVID-19 while maintaining a stable economy and lockdown is not the solution.

While briefing the media after a meeting with Health Minister B Sriramulu and officials here, CM Yediyurappa said, "There will be no lockdown from tomorrow, people need to get back to work, the economy is also very important. We have to fight COVID-19 while maintaining a stable economy. Lockdown is not the solution, now restrictions will be placed only in containment zones."

"People who came from Maharastra and Tamil Nadu added to the COVID-19 cases in Karnataka. Experts have suggested a 5T strategy - Trace, Track, Test, Treat and Technology. Our COVID warriors are working day and night to safeguard the people of the state, we have to maintain social distance, wear a mask while going out," he added.

CM Yediyurappa further said that more than 80 per cent COVID-19 cases in the state are asymptomatic.

"Five five per cent need ICU or ventilators, 11,230 beds are kept ready for the use of people including private hospitals, medical colleges. The real-time dashboard is ready to serve the people. Now onwards, test report will be given within 24 hours. SSLC exams were conducted successfully. More than 8 lakh students wrote exams in such a situation," he said.

Commenting upon the allegations of COVID-19 mismanagement labelled by opposition leaders, CM Yediyurappa said, "I request all the opposition leaders not to make unnecessary comments. I request Siddaramaiah, D K Shivakumar and others to suggest us valuably to fight corona together."

"We will give all the details which are required to D K Shivakumar, Siddaramaih, H D Kumaraswamy. Not even one-rupee corruption is done in COVID-19 management. We will give you all details. No official misused any funds, being opposition leaders, you have all rights to check documents, we will provide them," he added.

Taking to Twitter, Health Minister B Sriramulu said that the decision to raise the salary of 2,000 AYUSH doctors to Rs 45,000 was taken in the meeting.

"The decision to raise the salary of 2000 AYUSH doctors to Rs 45,000 was taken at a meeting chaired by our Hon. Chief Minister Shri @BSYBJP. Assurance has been given that the demand of private AYUSH doctors too will be reviewed and a decision regarding the same will be taken at the earliest. All doctors who were protesting for the same have withdrawn their resignations and reported to work," he tweeted.