Villagers drain 36acre lake after HIV woman drowns in it

TNN
December 5, 2018

Hubballi, Dec 5:The residents of Morab, around 30km from Hubballi, have refused to drink water from their village lake after an HIV-positive woman committed suicide by jumping into it a week ago. Unable to convince them, the authorities are now draining the water from the 36-acre lake — roughly the size of 25 football fields — which they hope to refill with water from the Malaprabha canal. The Morab lake is the biggest in Navalgund taluk and the only source of drinking water for villagers and cattle. As of now, villagers trek 2-3km to the Malaprabha canal to fetch water.

“This is unfortunate. We have been telling people not to panic as HIV does not spread through water. But the people are not convinced and they have started draining out the lake,” said Dharwad district health officer Dr Rajendra Doddamani. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) spreads only through body fluids. Outside the human body, the virus cannot survive beyond minutes in air or water.

Dr Glory Alexander, founder-director of Asha Foundation, which treats HIV+ patients, said it was a case of fear rather than stigma. “It’s sheer ignorance stemming from lack of awareness. When an HIV-positive person dies, the virus also dies. Even if the virus comes out of the body, it cannot survive in water and dies in a couple of seconds. There is no risk of infection spreading from the water,” she said.

The body of the woman was found in the lake on November 29. Word immediately spread the water had been contaminated, creating panic. Villagers refused to drink the water and pressured the gram panchayat and the Navalgund taluk administration to drain the lake. Authorities tried to convince the villagers that the water was not contaminated and that they would test the water, but no one relented. The authorities have now deployed 20 siphon tubes with four motors to pump out the water.

We’re trekking 2-3km to fetch water from Malaprabha canal, say villagers

We found the body in a highly decomposed state,” said Muttanna Bhavaikatti, from Morab village. “We don’t want to consume contaminated water. We are trekking 2-3km to fetch water from the Malaprabha right bank canal that flows through Morab,” he said.

Pradeep Hanikere, another villager, said the daily hardship was preferable to drinking water from the lake. “Do the officials drink bottled water if they find dirt or a speck in it? If they can’t, then how can they force us to drink water from the lake where we found the body of a woman,” he said.

Another villager pointed out, “We would have consumed the water if it was the body of a normal person, but the woman died of HIV. There is no other way. The authorities must drain out water and fill it with fresh water to save the lives of villagers.”

Gram panchayat member Laxman Patil said the villagers refused to see reason, so pipes have been sucking water out for the past four days. “We managed to drain out lakhs of litres, and discharged the water in a nearby stream. We still have to drain water from 60% of the lake and need at least five days to empty it,” he said. There is another problem, though. “The taluk administration wants us to complete the task by December 6. They have warned the Malaprabha right canal will be closed after December 8, so we have to fill the water into lake before that. More than 50 people are involved in pumping out water. We will need 1-2 weeks to empty and fill the lake.”

Navalgund tahsildar Naveen Hullur said: “We tried to convince people to drink the lake water but they refused. We offered to conduct tests to prove the water is fit to drink. I will talk to officials to allow us to fill the lake from Malaprabha canal till December 20 or 22.”

Comments

Reshma kodialbail
 - 
Wednesday, 5 Dec 2018

Those villagers only going to face afternmath of this senseless action. At that time they may blame administration

Subbu Acharya
 - 
Wednesday, 5 Dec 2018

36acre lake..! Mad people. Drinking water scarcity rise day by day.

Vinod
 - 
Wednesday, 5 Dec 2018

These people are mad. Uneducated. They could use some commonsense

Shahir
 - 
Wednesday, 5 Dec 2018

What ever awareness done among people wont work while they are going face such situation. People think about only themselves. 

Unknown
 - 
Wednesday, 5 Dec 2018

Ousiders will tell anything. But when if you are going to face such incident, nobody will think positively and wont take risk

Viggu Vignesh
 - 
Wednesday, 5 Dec 2018

Strange people

Sandesh Shetty
 - 
Wednesday, 5 Dec 2018

Bizare incident

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 16,2020

Newsroom, Jun 16: A 35-year-old Kannada lecturer died in a motorbike accident at Tumkuru in Karnataka.

The deceased is K N Swamy, who was a guest lecturer in Department of Kannada at Central University of Kerala located at Periya in Kasaragod district.

The accident occurred on Sunday afternoon when he was riding his motorbike.

Swamy was also a writer and poet in Kannada.

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Agencies
June 27,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 27: Marijuana or ganja as it is known locally, has emerged as the most peddled and seized drug in Karnataka in the first six months of 2020, a police officer has said, commemorating the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

"As many as 510 ganja cases have been registered, leading to the seizure of 312 kg of ganja in 2020," Central Crime Branch (CCB) Deputy Commissioner of Police Kuldeep Jain told media perrsons on Friday.

Cases and seizures of other drugs paled in comparison to Marijuana. Only one case each has been registered on Brown Sugar, Opium and other drug forms.

Hashish was the only other seized narcotic which weighed more than a kg at 17 kg, rest all were under a kg.

Other banned substances included charas, cocaine and MDMA.

Police also seized 91 papers of LSD and 550 tablets belonging to the Yaba, Restyl, Anxit and Nitrosun category of drugs.

Similarly, 781 Indians and 14 foreigners have been arrested in the drugs cases.

Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Director General of Police Praveen Sood and Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao were among the officials who commemorated the event which recognised police staff who cracked drug cases.

"Bommai reaffirmed the pledge to fight against drugs and continue the policy of zero tolerance (of drug abuse)," Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil said.

Police showcased the seized haul of drugs to Bommai in the past one year, and the minister later rewarded the policemen involved in cracking the drugs cases in Karnataka.

Bommai and the police officials took a pledge to fight drugs on the occasion.

"The Karnataka police has been taking strict action against the drug peddlers while at the same time creating awareness among youth," added JCP Sandeep Patil.

Police also roped in celebrities such as Milana Nagaraj, Darling Krishna and former cricketer Anil Kumble to send across a social message to give up drugs.

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 4,2020

Mangaluru, Aug 4: The Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy has announced the names of the winners of its annual honorary awards (Gaurava Prashasti and Gaurava Puraskara) for the years 2019 and 2020.

Rahim Uchil, the president of the Academy announced the names at a press conference in the city today. Beary Academy registrar Poornima and member Shamsheer Budoli were also present in the press meet. 

Gaurava Prasasthi-2020 winners are: Basheer Ahmed Kinya (Beary literature), Veena Mangaluru (Beary cinema, drama and art) and Siddique Manjeshwara (Beary organisation and social service) 

Gaurava Puraskara-2020 winners are: Dr Mohammed Ismail (medicine), T A Mohammed Asif (education), Iliyas Mangaluru (social service), Abdul Rasheed aka Rash Beary (Beary organisation) and Safwan Shah Bahrain (young talent). 

Gaurava Prashasti-2019 winners are: Abdul Rehman Kutthethur (Beary literature), Ismail Tannirbhavi (Beary art) and M Ahmed Bava Moidin (Beary organisation and social service).

Gaurava Puraskara-2019 winners are: Abdul Razzak Ananthady (Beary education), T S Hussain (Beary literature), Abdul Majeed Suralpady (General), Asif Karnad (social service) and Ali Kunhi Paare (Beary organisation). 

The Academy’s "Gaurava Prashasti consists of Rs 50,000 cash prize, shawl, garland and citation, while "Gaurava Puraskara" consists of Rs 10,000 cash prize, shawl, garland and citation.

Mr Uchil said that the awards will be conferred in a formal function after discussing the dates with chief minister once the covid-19 situation comes under control. Even though the winners for the year 2018 were announced, they weren’t conferred on the achievers. Hence those awards also will be conferred in the same ceremony, he said.

About the winners:

Basheer Ahmed Kinya: He has been involved with the Beary music sector since the last 21 years in the form of singer, and poet. He has provided lyrics for over 150 Beary audio cassettes and also sang them. His first audio cassette, Maskattoru Kallas' had created a record by getting sold out within four to five days. He has also created several non-stop cassettes and Duf songs. 
 
Veena Mangaluru: She has acted in the first Beary cinema. She has acted in over a thousand plays in different languages. 'Mami Marmolu', Kurfat Katte/Amadakaro Chiri, and Shamimarabal are some of the plays she has acted in. 
 
Siddique Manjeshwar: A social worker and activist. Through social media, he led a blood donation campaign and thereby helped thousands of people.  There are over 10,000 members in his 54 WhatsApp groups who are ready for blood donation. His ‘Blood Donate Mangaluru’ drive has been able to collect over 26,000 units of blood and conducting over 250 blood donation camps so far. He was honoured with a special award of the chief minister of Kerala. 

Dr Muhammed Ismail: Dr Muhammed Ismail completed his medical education in 1989 and has been serving different hospitals since the last 30 years being a highly respected doctor. He also is an honorary medical officer of the Wenlock Hospital Mangaluru. He has served as an office-bearer of Indian Medical Association, Karnataka Medico-legal Society etc.
 
T A Mohammed Asif: He has been providing education to over 360 students from LKG to the eighth standard through Adarsh Group of educational institutions. He is also active in the social sector and has distributed school bags and books to poor students. During the lockdown, he distributed free food items worth about Rs 10 lac.
 
Ilyas Mangaluru: He had fought against the menace of dowry. He has got over 500 girls married through an organization, 'Dowry Free Nikah'. He has also created an app, Free Nikah, which helps boys and girls to find suitable matches. 
 
Rash Beary: Abdul Rasheed aka Rash Beary is known for using social media to help the people. By establishing 'Beary Nikah Helpline' he has helped several poor Beary women to get married. He also provides free counselling services to couples from all religions. With the help of donors, he keeps distributing clothes and food among needy.

Safwan Shah Bahrain: A well-known Beary singer, he has sung several songs in past one decade. He has been organizing various Beary programmes in Bahrain for past eight years. He had undertaken the adventure of jumping from the air from a height of 13,000 feet with the Indian flag in hand. 

Abdul Razack Ananantady: A PU college lecturer by profession, he has conducted over 500 pre-exam training camps and functioned as a resource person in leadership and personality development training. He has been conducting training and lectures for students and their parents on learning nutrition, and life values. His addresses on education and cultural aspects have been aired by Akashvani.

Abdul Rahiman Kuthethur: He was the co-editor or Beary Kannada - English dictionary and editor of the first-ever Beary grammar book released in 2019. He also is a member of the experts' committee on the Beary language textbook. He has translated Panchatantra stories, Sarvajna Vachanas etc into Beary language and published collection of poems.

Ismail Tannirbavi: He is known as a Beary theatre personality, who started acting at the age of 17. He has acted in over 300 plays including Beary, Tulu and Kannada. He has been in the theatre since the last 55 year and his plays have been presented in countries like Muscat and Kuwait. 
 
Ahmed Bawa Moidin: A social worker and member of the Beary Study chair. He also is the life member of Beary Sahitya Parishad and member of Human Ethical Committee of Mangalore University. He was the founder vice president of Mangalore Merchant Associate and member of divisional railway users consultative/committee. He has donated blood 53 times. 

 T S Hussain: Hussain is a veteran Beary writer who has defied blindness. He faced many difficulties and challenges in life and also met with an accident in 2008. Because of this accident, his eyesight had become very weak. He continued with the creation of works with determination in spite of failing eyesight with help from friends. He has authored two works and was appreciated for their content. Thereafter, he authored two more works. In 2018, he wrote another work.
 
Abdul Majeed Suralpady: A social worker and activist, he has served in various organizations. He served as the president of Suralpady government higher primary school for 21 years. He also served as the president of the educational committee of South Karnataka Sunni Centre's Al Ihsan English Medium School and got government recognition for the school. He set up PU college for girls and laid two-way road at Kaikamba besides bus shelter, toilet, drinking water system and building for police check post.
 
Apatbandhava Asif Karnad: He has been serving as an ambulance driver for the last ten years. He readily carries dead bodies and performs funeral. and done so for over a thousand bodies so far. Whenever he comes across mentally unsound people on the road, he gives them a wash and admits them to Ashrams. He has also been maintaining Maimoon Foundation Apatbhandhava Sycho Rehabilitation Centre.
 
Alikunhi Pare: He is the founder president of 'Melthene', a forum of Beary writers and artists. He has also served social, literary, organizational and religious sectors. He has been identified with several organizations including Mangaluru taluk Yuvajana Okkota and Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Muslim Central Committee.

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