Cauvery water dispute: No breakthrough at meet convened by Centre

September 29, 2016

New Delhi, Sep 29: A meeting convened by the Centre to iron out differences between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on the impasse over Cauvery river water sharing failed to achieve any breakthrough today.

cauveryuma

At the meeting convened by Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, Tamil Nadu refused to accept Karnataka's proposal that an expert committee be sent to the river basin to assess water availability.

"There was a request from Karnataka government to our ministry to form an expert committee to take a view over availability of water in the Cauvery basin. The Karnataka Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah) pressed for it. Tamil Nadu could not give its consent to the proposal," Bharti told reporters after the meeting.

She said ultimately, solution could not be achieved outside the court. "Now things are again before the Honourable Supreme Court," Bharti, who chaired the meeting, said.

Besides Bharti and Siddaramaiah, Tamil Nadu PWD Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy, chief secretaries of the two states, Union Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar, and officials from Central Water Commission attended the nearly three-hour meeting.

Bharti said the Ministry noted views expressed by the two states during the meeting, convened after a Supreme Court order on Tuesday, and the same will be submitted before the apex court when it hears the matter tomorrow.

Referring to the tense situation in the two states, especially in Bengaluru, Mysore and Mandya-- the hotbed of Cauvery politics-- Bharti urged people to "take care of each other" and ensure peace.

"I may go on an indefinite hunger strike along the border between the two states, if the problem persists," Bharti said, making an emotional appeal.

Speaking to PTI after the meeting, Karnataka Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav said his state insisted on a Central expert committee's visit to the basin area to study "ground realities, actual quantum of drinking water available and crop situation" before water was released as directed by SC.

"Before releasing water, we want a central team to come and visit the Cauvery basin and assess ground realities, look at the situation and the level of drinking water and crop situation. And whatever the central team says, we will abide by that," Jadhav said. He also said the Tamil Nadu government reiterated the long-standing demand for setting up a Cauvery Water Management Board.

"To this, our Chief Minister replied that there is a hearing scheduled before a court in this regard on October 11 and let the issues relating to formation of the board be decided then," Jadhav said.

Meanwhile, on Karnataka's demand for sending an expert team to the basin area, Shekhar stated there is no provision under law in this regard and that the SC order in the matter also does not speak about it.

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TRUE INDIAN
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Thursday, 29 Sep 2016

Saffron dress turned into yellow. Is she having jaundice.

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News Network
July 16,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 16: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday hit out at state Health Minister B Sriramulu for stating that "only God can save Karnataka" from COVID-19 and asked him to resign from his post.

Speaking to media here in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah said, "The government cannot say that we are helpless. Why is the government in power? You have power and you have money. It is your primary duty to serve the citizens of the state."

On being asked about Karnataka Health Minister's statement, the Congress leader said: "Let him resign and go out. God will help you only if you will put all your efforts."

Meanwhile, President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee DK Shivakumar tweeted "Karnataka's Health Minister saying 'Only God can save Karnataka' reflects poorly on @BSYBJP govt's ability to handle the Covid crisis. Why do we need such a government if they cannot tackle the pandemic?"

Sriramulu had said on Wednesday that either people should inculcate awareness or only God can save them from COVID-19.

"Who can save us at this time? It's either God or people should inculcate awareness in them. Congress leaders are involved in political mudslinging at this time. This is not fine and it will not help them in any way," the Minister had said.

"It is a crucial time, in the interest of the general public. I request all the Congress leaders not to indulge in loose talk regarding the issue, it leads to more panic situation among the general public. We are ready to adhere to any punishment if we did any wrong thing," he had added.

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News Network
May 3,2020

Dubai, May 3: Over 150,000 Indians in the UAE, who wish to return home amid the coronavirus lockdown, have applied through the online registration process to the Indian missions here, according to media reports.

The Indian missions in the country last week opened online registration for the expatriates who wish to fly back home after getting stuck in the country amidst the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As of 6 pm on Saturday, we received more than 150,000 registrations, Consul General of India in Dubai Vipul told the Gulf News on Saturday.

A quarter of them want to return to their homeland after losing their jobs, he said.

According to a report in the Khaleej Times on Sunday, about 40 per cent of the applicants who have registered are blue-collared workers and 20 per cent are working professionals.

"Roughly 20 per cent have suffered job losses and about 55 per cent of the total applicants are from Kerala," Neeraj Aggarwal, Consul, Press, Information, Culture was quoted as saying in the report.

Aggarwal said that the figures would change as they are expecting registrations from workers from other states, including Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.

About 10 per cent of the applicants are visit and tourist visa holders who got stranded here due to the ongoing lockdown in India.

India extended the ongoing lockdown by two weeks from May 4 to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has affected nearly 40,000 people in the country.

Aggarwal said that a small number of the applications constitute those from pregnant women and other medical cases.

Since the online registration process was launched, the Consulate's website crashed several times due to the heavy rush of applicants wishing to register to fly back home.

The site has been working fine now though it took a lot of time for it to stabilise in the initial phase due to the heavy traffic, the counsel general said.

He said that the missions here have not yet received any information from the Indian government about the mode of transport of the stranded citizens, the prices of the tickets or how the COVID-19 test results of applicants would be assessed for their journey.

There are high-level discussions going on regarding these things, he said in the report.

Meanwhile, Norka (The Non Resident Keralites Affairs) said it has received a total of 398,000 applications from Keralites across the globe who wish to return home.

"Of which, the highest numbers are from the UAE. At least 175,423 applicants have signed up from the UAE," Norka said in an official statement on Saturday.

It also received 54,305 registrations from Saudi Arabia, 2,437 from the UK, 2,255 from the US, and 1,958 from Ukraine from those who wish to return to India, the Khaleej Times reported.

The coronavirus has infected 13,599 people and claimed 119 lives in the UAE, the Ministry of Health and Prevention said on Saturday.

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News Network
March 13,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 13: Google said on Friday that an employee at its Bengaluru office has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus and the firm has directed all its employees in that office to work from home today as a precautionary measure.

"We can confirm that an employee from our Bangalore office has been diagnosed with COVID-19. They were in one of our Bangalore offices for a few hours before developing any symptoms. The employee has been on quarantine since then," Google said in a statement.

The firm has asked colleagues who were in close contact with the employee to quarantine themselves and monitor their health.

"Out of an abundance of caution, we are asking employees in that Bangalore office to work from home on Friday. We have taken and will continue to take all necessary precautionary measures, following the advice of public health officials, as we prioritize everyone's health and safety," it added.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

Coronavirus, which originated in the Wuhan city of China, has so far spread to more than 100 countries infecting over 1,20,000 people. India has confirmed 73 cases of the lethal infection.

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