Congress Mukt Bharat should begin from Karnataka, says Yediyurappa

In the wake of Saudi Arabia's assurance that Masjid al-Haram of Makkah and Masjid an-Nabawi of Madinah will be opened for believers after some days, a message has gone viral on social media claiming that both the holy mosques will open on Ramadan 8 (May 1).

The message which was widely circulated on Facebook and WhatsApp, also contained certain condition such as people should fetch their own prayer mats and that they should not use the washrooms in the mosques. 

Clarification

Meanwhile, the authorities of the two holy mosques, issued a clarification that the claims made in the viral post are false and baseless.

"The message being circulated about the opening date for Haramiain (two holy mosques) for public is completely baseless and false. The suspension of prayers for general public is still in effect," they said in a social media post.

Kozhikode, Jun 14: A mosque in Kuttichira of Kozhikode has found a unique way to avoid crowding amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee that runs the mosque has started issuing smart cards to people for offering prayers and simultaneously encouraging social distancing.

"The committee has given smart cards with numbers to the people in the surroundings of the Masjid. One who enters the mosque premises has to rub their hands with sanitizers. They also have to tell their identity on camera. The automatic system has been put in place to save the address and phone number. Next time onwards they have to say their smart card number only so that other details will be automatically filled," said Muhammad Sajjad, who is part of the Mosque committee.

"The door of the mosque will open automatically after swiping the card. We have fit in a sensor on the doors. We have also made marks inside the mosque area so that people can abide by social distancing norm," he added.

A couple of days back the Kerala government has rolled out an order allowing the opening of places of worship, malls and restaurants from June 9 in strict accordance with guidelines and social distancing norms. As per the guidelines, pregnant women and those with co-morbidities should not visit any places of worship. Those with symptoms should not be allowed.

Bengaluru, Jan 25: To address the grievances of the Industrialists, over the issue of acquisition of land, the state government have plans to dilute the Land Reforms Act, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, said here on Saturday.

Speaking to the media here, on his visit to the World Economic Forum, Davos, recently he said that 'the visit was fruitful and ends with satisfactory note by procuring promises from several Industrial houses to investment in Karnataka'.

Stating that during his five-day stay at Davos, he had met several Industries heads on the sidelines of the summit, and had an interactive meeting with them, Chief Minister said that 'the event had helped us to present our state Karnataka, to convince them about the prevailing industry-friendly environment'.

He said that he had met several heads of global companies, including Arcelor Mittal, Kirloskar, MAHINDRA, Bharat Forge, 2000 Watt, general electrical, Dassault, Dalmia, Lulu Group, Volvo, Nova Nosdik and Domeco.

'The interaction with the corporate heads was encouraging and more investment is expected to flow into Karnataka, in the fields of Mining, Power, Agriculture, Pharma, Education, and Industries.'

Informing that the main grouse expressed by the Industrialists about the bottlenecks being faced in the Land Reforms Act to procure land, he said that 'To make ease of conversion of Agricultural land we have plans to bring amendment and it would be both win-win situation to both Farmers as well as Industries.'

'We have promised them to remove all hurdles, which comes in the way of acquiring land to set up industries, and we have promised to rectify all the administrative problems within a month or two and legal problems in the next couple of months by amending existing laws.'

'We have also plans to present a new Industrial policy in the coming budget and roll out a comprehensive and investor-friendly law', he further said.

Replying to questions, Chief Minister said that 'all those investment proposals which got clearance at the High-Level Clearance Committee would automatically considered as ‘deemed permission’ and start the process of acquisition of land'.

'TheWorldEconomic Forum Summit had also served us as a platform to invite Industrialists to take part in the Karnataka Global Investors Meet scheduled to be held in November this year', he added.