Bollywood music composer duo Sajid-Wajid join BJP

Bengaluru, Jan 30: There are around 3 lakh Bangladeshis across Karnataka and around 3,000 of them left Bengaluru following the recent crackdown, according to Bhaskar Rao, Bengaluru city police commissioner.

It's the first time a high-ranking official has put a number to Bangladeshis in Karnataka following the debate over the new citizenship law.

At a conclave on 'Construction Workers Safety, Health and Welfare' organised by the labour department and IIMB here, he said the estimate was arrived at based on information sourced from Bangladeshis deported recently.

There's been no study to ascertain the Bangladeshi population in the state, Rao said, adding that most illegal Bangladeshis in Bengaluru are victims of human trafficking.

"They come to Bengaluru for employment. Unlike other cities, Bengaluru has a lot of job potential and pays good salaries too. There are a lot of Bangladeshis working in the construction industry," Rao said.

Workers from Bangladesh demand lower wages. While other labourers demand around Rs 500 to Rs 600 per day, Bangladeshi workers don’t complain about being paid around Rs 100-150,” Rao said, adding that this has encouraged human traffickers to increasingly bring in Bangladeshis.

Suresh Hari, chairman, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, however, said they’re not aware of the nationality of their workers as contractors bring workers registered for tasks. “It’s difficult to say where they are from as there’s also construction work outside Credai’s purview,” Hari said.

Bengaluru, Jul 16: Karnataka Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar on Thursday paid a surprise visit to the C V Raman Hospital in Bengaluru and urged the administration to follow COVID-19 guidelines properly. He also took stock of the hospital's preparedness to fight the deadly virus.

The minister noticed a number of flaws and warned the hospital to go strictly by the guidelines. He saw that despite 15 high-flow oxygen beds lay vacant, only two patients were admitted. He then asked the hospital to send asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients to COVID-19 care centres so that beds were available to those who need these.

"Doctors' profession is a noble one and in a situation like this everyone should perform their duty with utmost humanity and compassion. During this crisis, we should all be kind and empathetic," the minister said. He also ordered the suspension of two officials for not following the guidelines and not giving the right treatment to patients.

He noticed that the hospital lab collected less number of swabs and instructed them to collect a minimum of 500 swabs per day. Pointing out the under-utilised beds and ICUs, he observed that because of such negligence by officials, the government is being blamed despite working day and night for the past four-five months.
During this visit, the minister also interacted with the patients through video call and enquired about the services provided to them by the hospital.

"Surprise visits will continue. I will be in touch with every lab and get the right number of tests done on a daily basis," the minister said while speaking to the media.

He also urged the people who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate their plasma to save other lives, adding that donors will receive a reward of Rs 5000 as a token of appreciation.

Bengaluru, Apr 9: 10 new positive cases have been confirmed in Karnataka, apart from the recent fatality of an 80-year-old woman from Gadag district, the health department said on Thursday.

The fresh cases have been reported in the state from last evening to Thursday noon.

Till date, 191 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed, which includes 6 deaths and 28 discharges, the update said.

Among the 10 positive cases, eight are contacts of patients who have already tested positive- one each from Belagavi, Mandya and Chikkaballapura, two from Mysuru, and three from Bagalkote; while two from Bengaluru city are with a travel history to Delhi.

Three cases from Bagalkote are children- two boys of 4 and 13 years of age, and one girl of 9 years old.

The elderly woman died on April 8 in Gadag, the department said in its mid-day situation update.

Confirming that her reports tested positive on April 7, officials had said, she had a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).