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
May 9,2020

Bengaluru, May 9: A three-year-old boy was killed by a leopard in the early hours of Saturday in Magadi taluk near Bengaluru.

According to police, the boy identified as C Hemanth, was sleeping with his parents - Chandrasekhar and Mangalagowramma - outside his grandfather Chikkanna's residence at Kadaraiana Palya.

The couple, residents of Dodderi, near Big Banyan Tree (Dodda Alada Mara), had been staying at Chikkanna's [Mangalagowramma's father] residence since past a few days following the outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic in Bengaluru.

Some of the family members, with the child, had slept outside the residence on Friday as the temperature was high. The feline might have taken the child between 1.30 a.m. and 4 a.m., and killed it on the outskirts of the village, said the sources.

After a frantic search, family members and villagers found the mutilated body of the child in the early hours. The leopard had left the partially devoured body on the outskirts of the village, added the sources.

According to the villagers, many felines have been prowling in the area, probably arriving from forests around Magadi and attached areas, for the last several weeks.

The Forest Department officials said that they have launched an exercise to trap the animal by placing cages with live baits.

According to preliminary investigations, the child was killed by a leopard. Pugmarks were found near the body. A detailed investigation and post-mortem report will find the exact cause for the death.

The incident has sent shockwaves in the vicinity of the village. According to the sources, people are planning to launch a protest to condemn the killing of the boy.

Minister for Forest and Environment B.S. Anand Singh has announced a compensation of ₹7.5 lakh to the family of the victim.

Accompanied by Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha member D.K. Suresh, Magadi legislator Manjunath and senior officials, Mr. Singh visited the place on Saturday morning.

Addressing media persons, he said that the department has decided to start combing operations for the leopard.

Mr. Suresh said the leopard might have come from Thippagondanahalli reservoir's catchment area on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The leopard has already tasted the blood of the child and hence the department should initiate immediate action [as the chances of the feline becoming a man-eater is high, Mr. Suresh added.

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coastaldigest.com news network
February 7,2020

Newsroom, Feb 7: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent statement that there is no detention camp in India is no more a lie. That doesn’t mean that there are no detention camps in the country, but the name of the camps have changed. 

In December, at a mega rally at Ramlila Maidan, meant to launch the BJP's campaign for the assembly elections in Delhi, Mr Modi had stated: “The rumour of detention centres being spread by the Congress and urban Naxals is totally false. This is being done with a bad intention to destroy the country, it’s filled with evil motives; this is a lie, lie, lie.” He had further claimed: “Neither are any of the country’s Muslims being sent to detention centres nor is there any detention centre in India”

In reality there are at least six detention camps in jails in Assam to house foreigners found staying in India illegally. A month prior to PM’s statement, Union minister of the state for home affairs Nityanand Rai had revealed that the six camps in Assam housed 1,043 foreigners — 1,025 Bangladeshis and 18 Myanmarese. Apart from these, at least ten new detention centres are coming up.

Outside Assam too, the Maharashtra government, under the then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, had identified land for the state’s first detention centre for illegal immigrants.

Besides, in a case relating to illegal immigrants in Karnataka High Court in November this year, the Centre had told the court that it had written to all state governments in 2014 and sent a follow-up letter in 2018 to have detention centres to house foreign nationals illegally staying in India.

Karnataka’s first detention centre, apparently meant to lodge illegal immigrants and migrants overstaying in the country, is already open in Sondekoppa village on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The facility with several rooms, a kitchen and toilets has been kept ready on the directions of the government. 

Meanwhile, Union Minister of state for home Nityanand Rai has told the Lok Sabha that the name "detention centre" has now been changed to "holding centre".

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News Network
May 8,2020

New Delhi, May 8: After deadly styrene gas leak in Visakhapatnam, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister D V Sadananda Gowda urged all public and private chemical makers to exercise caution and care while reopening their plants.

Union Environment Ministry and State Pollution Control Boards have also issued separate directives to all companies to take extreme precaution while restarting their units that remained suspended due to the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country, he said.

There was a gas leak from LG Polymers plant at Visakhapatnam in the early hours on Thursday, causing 10 deaths and hundreds of people getting hospitalised.

"LG Polymers does not come under direct control of our ministry. However, we have asked all public and private chemicals manufacturers to exercise caution and care while reopening their plants," Gowda told PTI.

The minister said his officers are coordinating with the Andhra Pradesh government.

He further said LG Polymers, a multinational chemical company, had kept its unit ready for reopening after one and half month of lockdown. The unit started leaking at around 3.40 am on Thursday due to pressure.

"The toxic gas leak has affected both people and animals. Around 850 people have been hospitalised," Gowda said, adding that measures have been taken to control the situation at the plant site and final updates are awaited.

At present, Indian chemicals market size is about USD 163 billion, which is only three per cent of the global chemical industry of USD 5 trillion, as per the official data.

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