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Bengaluru, Jul 25: The Karnataka government on Saturday announced a waiver of crematorium fees for those who succumb to the COVID-19 infection in Bengaluru and said the city civic body would bear the cost.

It said that from now on, families of the COVID deceased need not pay any fees fixed by the city civic body- Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)- across 12 electric crematoriums in the city.

"There were reports in the media about difficulties faced in performing the last rites of those who died due to COVID-19 infections. Aimed at resolving those difficulties, certain decisions have been taken," Revenue Minister R Ashoka said.

He told reporters here that BBMP had fixed Rs 250 as the cremation fee, Rs 100 for the ash collection pot and Rs 900 for the bier (bamboo stretcher on which the body is carried), all of which have been waived for COVID deaths.

"So it will be a waiver of Rs 1,250 per cremation. The BBMP will bear this cost," he added.

Ashoka also announced Rs 500 per body incentive for the personnel who conduct the last rites of COVID victims.

"This is in recognition of their services at a time when family members of the deceased are not ready to touch the body and not ready to take the body in some cases," he said.

Noting that the government has identified 23 acres of land at five places around Bengaluru for burial or cremation of COVID victims, Ashoka locals in all these areas are protesting against it.

Appealing to the people for cooperation during these difficult times, he said the government's intention was to ensure respectful burial or cremation for the deceased.

"Obstructing it is not right, it is not Indian tradition," he said.

Pointing out that it takes almost a day's time for a COVID victim's body to be handed over for burial or cremation, he said "scientifically, according to experts and doctors, the virus will not remain alive for more than three hours.

...Also, bodies are either burnt or buried eight feet below. So there will not be any problem for those living in nearby areas and it will not spread infection. Cooperate with humanity," he said.

"These lands identified are for all religions and communities and once the pandemic subsides, can be used for other deaths as well," he said.

Mangaluru, May 20: The local unit of Bharatiya Janata Party has defended the delay in repatriation of coastal Kannadigas from Middle Eastern countries saying that it is impossible to bring all expatriate together at a time when covid-19 cases are continuing to spike in the region. 

Addressing a press conference, Sudarshan M, president of Dakshina Kannada unit of BJP said that the entire district administration was working as a team under the leadership local MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and district minister Kota Shrinivas Poojary and seven BJP MLAs in this critical juncture.

“Without any bias, we also have reached out to the needs of people of Mangaluru assembly constituency represented by former minister and Congress MLA U T Khader,” he said, adding that his party will not forget Indian expatriates in the Gulf too. 

Replying to the charge of not catering to the interests of Kannadigas stranded in the Middle East by way of arranging special flights, Sudarshan said this is part of a well-thought-out move to bring them in batches.

“It is impossible to bring back all Kannadigas stranded in Middle East all of a sudden. Their repatriation will be in phased manner based on facilities available in the district,” he said.

“The district authorities have created healthcare and quarantine facilities for a limited number, be it at Covid-19 hospital or institutional quarantine, and bringing them together will create logistical problems,” he said.

Mangaluru, Jul 2: Mangaluru BJP Corporator Manohar Shetty, who entered a manhole to clean a drain, said that he did it to avoid waterlogging ahead of monsoon as people were facing several problems for the past few years.

"In my ward, there is a rainwater drain at Kadri Kambla junction and for the past few years, there was a waterlogging problem due to trash water used to collect and vehicles used to find it difficult to pass in that area," Shetty said.

"Since there was a lot of trash it had to be cleared to avoid waterlogging. We changed our dresses, and then I along with my three party workers entered manhole and cleared the trash," he said.

The Mangaluru BJP Corporator further said that it was not a publicity stunt, and he cleaned the drain to solve the problem of people. "During elections, I had promised people to get the drain cleaned. Since monsoon was coming; something had to be done; we did not do it for publicity but to solve a problem," he said.