MM Akbar remanded in 5-day police custody

Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday shuffled the portfolios of six newly inducted ministers after they expressed unhappiness about the departments allocated to them barely 24 hours ago.

Three ministers — BC Patil, Anand Singh and K Gopalaiah — received new responsibilities and as many — Shivaram Hebbar, Srimanth Patil and Byrathi Basavaraj — have been saddled with more.

Sources said the six ministers met the CM late Monday night and said they were not happy with the portfolios handed to them. They reportedly threatened not to assume office until their demands were met, forcing the CM to effect the changes early Tuesday.

BC Patil is now vested with agriculture (he had been given forest), Anand Singh forest, environment and ecology (earlier food and civil supplies) and Gopalaiah food and civil supplies (instead of small-scale industries). BC Patil said, “I’m happy I can now be with farmers.” Shivaram Hebbar has been given the additional responsibility of sugar along with labour allocated to him on Monday.

Allocation of the forest portfolio to Anand Singh has raised eyebrows as the Vijayanagara MLA had been arrested in 2013 and 2015 in cases of illegal mining and illegal transportation of mining ore. Singh owned SB Mineral in Ballari and the Lokayukta had charged him with transporting 17,086 tonnes of iron ore without permission or valid licence. He was acquitted in a Belikeri iron ore export case due to lack of evidence.

Byrathi Basvaraj, who has been given the urban development ministry, will also handle Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board and Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation.

Srimanth Patil has received minority welfare department apart from textile.

The exercise of portfolio shuffling is likely to continue with minister K Sudhakar reportedly unhappy with medical education.

In another embarrassment to the CM, Mahesh Kumathalli on Tuesday refused to take over as chairman of the Mysore Sales International Ltd, saying he wants to be a minister. BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal urged Yediyurappa to induct Kumathalli into the cabinet in line with the promise made to him when he joined the BJP before bypolls. “The CM must keep his word,” he said.

Wayanad, Jul 6: DM Education and Research Foundation (DMERF), headed by Dr Azad Moopen, has come forward to handover DM WIMS Medical College, Nursing and Pharmacy Colleges and its associated institutions in Wayanad to the Kerala Government. 

According to Azad Moopen, Managing Trustee, DMERF, the Kerala Government has been deliberating to set up a medical college in the area over the last 7-8 years to address the challenges being faced by the local population due to lack of local availability of advanced healthcare facilities under the government sector. 

The handover by DMERF would address the Government's need. DM WIMS is one of the few NABH accredited medical colleges in the country, he said.

The DM WIMS Medical College and its associated institutions were established by the DMERF Trust 10 years ago to help the backward community of the district. 

Run in a charitable manner, the medical college has a capacity of 150 seats and has seen two batches of doctors graduate from the institution. With a total built up area of 14 lakh sq feet, it also has a 700-bed super-specialty hospital catering to the local community and helping in training healthcare professionals, a 100-bed specialty hospital, a pharmacy college, and a nursing college.

A new medical college by the government will require substantial investments and minimum of 5 years to become functional. “We think that DM WIMS can cater to the requirement of the government and setting up another medical college might not be required to cater to the existing population,” he said.

Moopen also announced a donation of Rs 250 crore out of the total investment in the institutions to the government to provide treatment to the needy population in the backward, landlocked district and to train good quality doctors from the State.

Bengaluru, Jul 1: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief DK Shivakumar on Wednesday said that the state Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa should apologise to the nation for the Ballari incident.

"It is shocking to see the Ballari incident. The way the dead bodies of the corona victims have been treated is very unfortunate. The entire country witnessed it. I request the Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to apologise to the nation. India is known for its values and traditions," Shivakumar told reporters here.

Earlier, Shivakumar had posted a video which allegedly showed officials 'inhumanly' dumping bodies of those patients who die of COVID into a pit in Ballari, the district administration confirmed it and said that the entire field team involved in the incident has been disbanded.

"It's disturbing to see bodies of COVID patients who have died being dumped inhumanly into a pit in Ballari. Is this civility? This is a reflection of how the government has handled this Corona crisis. I urge the govt to take immediate action and ensure that this doesn't happen again," Shivakumar's tweet, which also had a video of the incident embedded, read.

The Deputy Commissioner, Ballari issued a press note which stated that it had conducted an enquiry after the video surfaced and it was found that the video belonged to the district and "comprises of burial of eight people who passed away after succumbing to COVID-19."

Although, according to the DC, all protocols and SOPs were followed by the team during the burial process, however, the "disrespectful handling of the bodies while being lowered on to the ground by the field staff" led to the entire field team involved being disbanded and will be replaced by a new team trained by the HOD, Forensic, VIMS.

The district administration also issued an unconditional apology to the families of the deceased and to others who were hurt by the incident.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa also termed the behaviour of the staff "very inhuman and very painful" and urged the staff to tread cautiously with humanity in handling the funeral of those affected by the disease, and added, "Let's walk with humanity, and realize that there is no greater religion than humanity."