M A Gafoor is new chief of Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation

Mangaluru, June 28: In his apparent bid to win the hearts of the people of Tulu Nadu while leaving this coastal city, Dr P S Harsha, the outgoing Mangaluru city police commissioner, today took to social media and thanked the people. The language he chose for his prolonged Facebook post and one paragraph tweet was Tulu.

“Loveable people of Kudla! I have received the transfer order after serving as the Commissioner of Police of Mangaluru City for 11 months. (During this period) I worked with utmost honesty and pro-people approach with the complete cooperation of my department. I wholeheartedly thank all those who supported me,” tweeted Dr Harsha, who is now posted in Bengaluru as the Deputy Inspector General and Commissioner of Information and Public Relations.

In his Facebook post, Dr Harsha claimed that thanks to his initiative “My Beat My Pride”, the policing in the coastal city has strengthened. 

“My only intention was to put an end to rowdyism and illegal activities. I had given priority to curb the drug mafia. ‘My Beat My Pride’ became a successful initiative thanks to public support,” he said. 

The IPS officer went on to claim that with the with the co-operation of the senior officers, the police department managed to efficiently handle situations during anti-CAA and pro-CAA agitations in the city, detection of explosives at Mangaluru International Airport and also during the covid-19 pandemic. 

However, he did not mention about the death of two people in random police firing following a baton charge during anti-CAA protests in the city on December 19.

ಕುಡ್ಲದ ಮಾತ ಮೋಕೆದ ಬಂಧುಲೇ, 11 ತಿಂಗೊಳುರ್ದ್ ಕುಡ್ಲದ ಪೊಲೀಸ್ ಆಯುಕ್ತೆಯಾದ್ ಸೇವೆ ಮಂದಿನ ಎಂಕ್ ಇತ್ತೆ ವರ್ಗಾವಣೆ ಅವೋಂದುಂಡು.ಇಲಾಖೆದ ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣ ಸಹಕಾರದೊಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಮಸ್ತ್ ಪ್ರಾಮಾಣಿಕ ಬೊಕ್ಕ ಜನಪರವಾದು ಎನ್ನ ಕರ್ತವ್ಯ ಮಲ್ತೊಂದು ಬೈದೆ.ಎಂಕ್ ಸಹಕಾರ ಬೆಂಬಲ ಕೊರ್ನ ಮಾತೆರೆಗ್ಲಾ ಉಡಲ್ ದಿಂಜಿನ‌ ಸೊಲ್ಮೆಲು. pic.twitter.com/y7rgQMoOwm

— Harsha IPS CP Mangaluru City (@compolmlr) June 28, 2020

Kalaburagi, Mar 16: Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner B Sharat has banned the sale of liquor and ordered the closure of bars and restaurants in the district until further orders in the wake of coronavirus scare.

On Sunday, Sharat said that the public gatherings including local markets, village fairs, Urs festival in Kalaburagi district have been banned.

"Gatherings including local markets, village fairs, Urs festival in the district have been banned as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus until further orders," Sharat said.

The Karnataka Health Department on Sunday said that all the family members and other contacts of the 76-year-old man who died of coronavirus in Kalaburagi are being monitored closely.

The state government has said that six cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the state as of now, including one person who died.

"Till date, six COVID-19 cases have been reported in the state including one death. The 5 Coronavirus positive cases are in isolation at the designated hospital in Bengaluru," the government said.

A motley group of as many as 150 birders ‘walked the chirp’ in search of their feathered friends in and around the countryside of Manipal. The occasion was the 10th Edition of Manipal Bird Day organised by Manipal Birders Group on Sunday, February 2nd, 2020.

The day began ‘Bird Walk’ from Hotel Sheela Sagar (Opposite MIT campus) at 6:30 a.m. The birders divided themselves in smaller groups of 10-12 members and followed 13 different trails which took them through different terrains like hills, plains, paddy fields and wetlands. The idea was to sight as many birds as possible and record their presence in the region.

When the walk ended at about 10:00 a.m., the different groups have recorded a total of 125 species of birds, which was a bit lesser than the sighting of the yester years. “The 10th edition this year has seen a very good growth of interest among people. At the same time a decline has been seen in the bird species sighted compared to previous years,” said one of the organisers. Some of the rare birds sighted were Indian Pitta, Oriental Turtle Dove, Fork-Tailed Drongo Cuckoo, Orange Breasted Green Pigeon, Eurasian Marsh Harrier and Malabar Pied Hornbill.

The bird walk was followed with an interaction session at KMC Food Court and MAHE Vice Chancellor Dr. H. Vinod Bhat presided over the function. He felicitated six people who actively participated recently in a rescue mission of abandoned birds in Manipal.

A program then continued with a talk on ‘Ethical Photography’ by Dhruvam Desai, final year student of MIT, Manipal. This was followed by ‘Backyard Birding’ with Shubha Bhat from IISc Bangalore. She spoke on different ways to feed the birds with water using different materials for bird baths. “I have recorded 120 species of birds from bird baths in my garden,” she said. She encouraged the participants to have bird baths in their gardens or flats which will help quench the thirst of these little winged wonders during summer.

The participants involved themselves actively in the interaction sessions. The event was accompanied with an art exhibition titled ‘Feathered Jewels’ by Aditya Bhat. He presented around 18 paintings all from his memory of birding encounters.

Participation in Manipal Bird Day was open to all and entry was free.

MANIPAL BIRD DAY

Manipal Bird Day is an annual event dedicated to celebrating birds in Manipal. This day long event brings together a large number of birders from Manipal, Udupi, Mangalore, Mysore, Bangalore, Davangere and other places. Around 150-200 people gather and are split into different teams. They visit the assigned regions and count as many birds as possible. This non competitive event focuses on spreading awareness regarding the diverse avifauna around us. Turn out for this event has been increasing from 3 people to 200 in last 10 years. This is the 10th edition of Manipal Bird Day.

MANIPAL BIRDERS CLUB

Manipal Birders Club started as a Facebook group after the release of the first edition of “A Birders Handbook to Manipal” to share information about the latest sightings. It is now a formal group of over 500 like-minded members that meets at least once a week to go on bird walks. It is now a large birders community and a medium to organize events, bird walks and discussions about birds and sightings.

The next step would be to involve a higher number of local and young birders who will dictate the change in environment around the town in the coming years. With the co operation of Zoology and natural sciences students and other nature enthusiasts and faculty of different colleges weekly birding sessions have been conducted to involve and encourage more and more people to bird and get connected to the nature and to try to understand the changes happening around us, the media release issued by the group said.