Maha poll panel bars Owaisi's MIM, 190 other local parties from contesting polls

Mysuru, May 6: A seven-months pregnant woman fled Covid-19 hotspot Mumbai along with her family, and made it to her village 1000 km away in KR Pet taluka in Mandya district of Karnataka, flashing her mother's ID card at each checkpost. After reaching her destination, she got herself tested for Covid-19.

She tested positive for the virus on Monday in Mandya.

The 20-year-old woman (assigned the number P637) had been living with her husband and in-laws at Santa Cruz East, Agripada in Mumbai for the past three years. To get out of the containment zone, they started out from Mumbai at 7.30 pm on April 23 -- she, her husband, brother-in-law, co-sister and their children, and a 19-year-old girl. She made it past checkposts at Belagavi, Hubballi, Davanagere, Kadur, Arasikere, Channarayapatna and Shravanabelagola and reached her village Jaaginakere at 3 pm on April 24.

She stayed at her home in the village from 24 April to April 29. With the Mandya district administration testing people on a campaign mode in the entire district, she and her family got themselves tested on May 1.

Her test returned positive on May 4, according to deputy commissioner M V Venkatesh.

Along with her, the 19-year-old girl (P638) who travelled with the family also tested positive. The girl is in the sixth semester of her BE Electronics course at an engineering college in Mumbai.

This is not the first case of a corona fugitive from Mumbai. Earlier, a 50-year-old man who ran a hotel in Mumbai travelled in a vehicle carrying dates and reached Channarayapatna in Hassan district.

In fact there have been three such incidents, including that of seven people coming to Mandya from Mumbai transporting a dead man's body for cremation in his native village of B Kodagalli in Pandavapura taluk.

Mandya deputy commissioner Dr Venkatesh has appealed to natives of Mandya who are stuck in Mumbai to stay there till the Covid situation comes to control.

So far 28 people in Mandya diatrict have tested positive for Covid 19. Seven people have been discharged. Currently there are 21 active cases being treated at the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences.

Mangaluru, Jun 3: Cyclone Nisarga did not land in Karnataka and has passed its border with heavy rains and strong winds, said an official on Wednesday.

However rains continued to lash parts of coastal Karnataka. There was no report of any casualty, the official added.

"It has already passed. We have not got any reports of fatalities. A heavy rain was expected and the deputy commissioners were alerted. Fishermen too were warned," said Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) Principal Secretary T K Anil Kumar.

Kumar said Nisarga's actual landing is in Maharashtra and the warning was given for that state and Gujarat.

"In the fringe proportion (of Karnataka), high winds were expected and fishermen were warned not to venture into the sea," he said.

Kumar said the department interacted with the deputy commissioners of Belagavi, Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga and alerted them about heavy rains.

Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre Director Srinivas Reddy said the department has kept four National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) teams on standby in Mangaluru and Kodagu for any eventuality.

The teams have been mobilized from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh.

"More rain is predicted in coastal districts. Wind speed too will be more in coastal areas," said Reddy.

According to a Met Department official, the track of Nisarga is expected to be 200-400km off Karnataka coast.

"Sudden wind speed had been reported along the coast. We had issued port warnings," said the official.

New Delhi, Mar 30: A Muslim woman from Jammu and Kashmir has donated her savings of Rs 5 lakh, meant for the Hajj pilgrimage, to the RSS-affiliated 'Sewa Bharati' after apparently being "impressed with the welfare work" done by the outfit amid the lockdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Khalida Begum, 87, who saved Rs 5 lakh for Hajj, was forced to defer her plans for the pilgrimage due to the lockdown.

Hajj is the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the holiest city of Muslims.

"Khalida Begum ji was impressed with the welfare work done by the Sewa Bharati in Jammu and Kashmir during the tough time the country is passing through due to sudden outbreak of COVID-19 and decided to donate Rs 5 lakh to the organisation," Arun Anand, head of RSS media wing Indraprastha Vishwa Samvad Kendra (IVSK), said.

The woman wants that this money should be used by the community service organisation Sewa Bharati for the poor and the needy in Jammu and Kashmir. She had saved this amount for performing Hajj, plans for which she deferred due to the present situation, Anand said.

"Khalida Begum ji was among the first few women in Jammu and Kashmir who got educated in a convent. She is the daughter-in-law of Colonel Peer Mohd Khan, who was president of the Jana Sangh," he said.

Jana Sangh was also an associate of RSS and later became the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Anand said despite her age, she had been very active in welfare works for the women and the downtrodden in Jammu and Kashmir. Her son, Farooq Khan, a retired IPS officer, is presently serving as an adviser to the Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor.

Meanwhile, since the lockdown was announced, Sewa Bharati volunteers across the country have been providing food and other essential items to the needy. The Sangh-affiliate's volunteers were seen on Saturday managing crowd and providing food to them at the Anand Vihar bus terminal in Delhi.