Cops raid slaughterhouse; arrest 3; seize 3 cows, 200kg meat, 3 vehicles

Mangaluru, May 25: D V Sadananda Gowda, Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilizer, has once again written to the Ministry of External Affairs urging to take steps to operate more repatriation flights from Gulf countries to Karnataka. 

In his second letter in 10 days addressed to Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Union Minister for External Affairs, expressed regret over not giving due priority for the repatriation of Kannadigas in the middle east during the extended second phase of Vande Bharat Mission. 

"I shall be grateful if you could personally intervene and instuct the concerned in arranging flights to Mangaluru and Bengaluru from Gulf countries in existing schedule itself," Mr Gowda urged Mr Jayashankar. 

Bengaluru, Jul 7: There seems no impact of Covid-19 on kharif crop sowing in Karnataka with the current year actually being ahead of previous years, according to an official here on Monday.

"In agriculture, as far as sowing is concerned, there is no impact of COVID-19," Agriculture Commissioner Brijesh Kumar Dikshit told IANS. One of the reasons, according to Dikshit, is that people in rural areas are aware, but not scared of the pandemic.

"In rural India, coronavirus is there. People are aware, not scared. They are taking precautions, but don't have any phobia," he said.

Another reason was that by June the number of infections in Karnataka was not as high as other states, when a lot of sowing was done, he said.

By the end of June, Karnataka saw 15,242 Covid-19 cases. Of that, 7,074 were active.

The sowing is ahead of previous year as it's mostly dependent on weather. "It's ahead of previous years. Agriculture is directed by weather and rains had been slightly earlier this year," he said.

According to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, at 185 mm the state received 14 mm less rain in June against the normal 199 mm. "It's like a normal year, or slightly a good year," he said.

Some crops will be sown in the last fortnight of July and few more will extend up to August 15. "The last two weeks will be critical and on July 31 we should be able to tell whether we are short or ahead," he said.

According to preliminary indications, the Commissioner said the area under agriculture is increasing this year, which could also be because that labourers might have come back.

Mangaluru, July 13: Dakshina Kannada district in-charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary on Monday said that all COVID-19 patients in the district will be treated for free in the hospitals of all medical colleges in the district.

Speaking to newsmen after visiting the COVID-19 treatment facility at KMC Hospital here, Poojary stated that all COVID-19 patients including BPL families, APL families, migrant workers and those without a ration card, will be treated free of charge in the district’s medical colleges. Patients can show their Aadhaar card at the hospital and get free treatment.

Provision of free treatment for COVID-19 patients at Wenlock hospital will be continued. In Dakshina Kannada district, the number of people recovering from the virus and being discharged hospitals is high. There is no need for the people of the district to panic. The government is committed to the health of the people, Poojary said.