Police commissioner P S Harsha appeals to people to send videos of riots for investigation

Bengaluru, May 8: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday held a meeting with opposition parties at his office here over COVID-19 situation in the state.

Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Congress leaders SR Patil and DK Shivakumar participated in the meeting. From Janata Dal (Secular), former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and HD Revanna were present.

"Congress legislative party leader Siddaramaiah and DK Shivkumar have arranged the Chief Minister to request the central government to announce a special package of Rs 50,000 crore to Karnataka to fight coronavirus and also special packages requested for small and medium scale industries," said Siddaramaiah's media secretary.

Meanwhile, Yediyurappa has announced a special package for those involved in leather works, especially those who work on the roadside.

The special package has been announced for cobblers and leather workers, who work on the roadside.

Bengaluru, Jul 24: A government doctor who was turned away by three private hospitals because he could not produce a coronavirus test result passed away today in Bengaluru. Dr Manjunath, who was a frontline COVID-19 doctor, was allegedly turned away by hospitals when he was extremely ill and struggling to breathe.

Dr Manjunath worked in the state Health and Family Welfare department and was based in Ramanagara district, around 50 km from Bengaluru.

D Randeep, a Special Officer with the Bengaluru municipal body BBMP, said that the hospitals that had refused to admit Dr Manjunath would be reported to the health department.

In June-end, Dr Manjunath went to Rajashekhar Hospital in JP Nagar, BGS Global Hospital in Kengeri and Sagar hospital in Kumaraswamy Layout. All three demanded to see his COVID-19 test result but those were still not in at the time, according to his family. His brother-in-law Nagendra is also a doctor with BBMP and in charge of allotting hospital beds, yet he was completely helpless when it came to his own relative.

He was finally admitted to Sagar hospital on June 25 when his family sat in protest on the footpath outside the Dayananda Sagar campus. He was placed on ventilator and later shifted to the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, where he died earlier today. The hospital says Dr Manjunath was discharged on July 9 because he wanted plasma therapy.

Six members of his family, including a 14-year-old, tested COVID-19 positive. Most of them have recovered.

Bengaluru has seen several cases of patients being turned away from hospitals in the city. Hospitals say they need Covid test results to know whether to admit patients in the coronavirus ICU or in the general section and to understand treatment protocol.

Mr Randeep said hospitals have been instructed to admit patients even without such a certificate. Notices have been sent to hospitals that fail to comply. The OPD of two private hospitals was sealed for 48 hours when they refused to admit a patient.

New Delhi, Mar 29: "What corona? My children are hungry, they have walked from Gurugram with me do you think corona is what I fear?," Yogesh Gangwar who is salesman in a cloth showroom said as he wiped his tears.

Many others regret for not leaving the city early on.

"God knows when we will reach our hometown. My family was telling me to leave work early in March and get back, but I avoided suggestions and now I am stranded here," Babu Ram who hails from Rampur and works at a plastic recycling factory here in Mundka told media.

Migrant labourers were forced to walk as the public transport were closed and borders were sealed due to the lockdown.

"There is no food to eat, I cannot pay rent of room without my daily wages so I decided to walk with my family from Narela to here. I just hope I get a bus soon," Revati, who works as construction labour said as she fed her three-year-old with pieces of bread that one of the policemen at Anand Vihar gave her.

However, when Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh decided to deploy around 1,000 buses to help these workers reach their respective hometowns, thousands of them reached Anand Vihar ISBT with a hope to catch one of these buses.

The Delhi government also announced that 100 buses have been deployed to help those trying to reach to their homes in other states on foot.

In order to avoid the spread of the virus, the police asked the people to stand in three queues and also asked the people to de-board the overcrowded buses.

Earlier, budget passenger carrier SpiceJet had offered its aircraft to operate few flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Patna to take migrant labourers, particularly from Bihar, who have got stuck in various parts of the country due to COVID-19 related lockdown.