Bengaluru, Apr 15: Police on Wednesday conducted surprise raids at nearly 120 shops in Bengaluru following complaints of black marketing and sale of foodgrains above the MRP rate.
Sandip Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Bengaluru in a tweet said that action has been initiated against these shopkeepers.
Though the government has maintained the supply chain of essential items, few shopkeepers have used the lockdown opportunity to charge higher prices for essential items.
New Delhi, Apr 4: The Supreme Court on Friday urged Karnataka and Kerala to amicably resolve their issues concerning a border blockade that has choked the free flow of vehicles carrying essential items and patients in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Karnataka, which imposed the blockade, justified that its border was sealed to “combat the spread of the pandemic by preventing the movement of people from the bordering districts of Kerala to Karnataka”.
The State had moved the Supreme Court, challenging a Kerala High Court order on April 1 to open the border. Kerala has countered that patients from the State cannot be denied access to health care. Besides, the blockade has severely affected the supply of essential items, from medicines to food, to Kerala.
On Friday, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta urged the States to not confront each other in the midst of an unprecedented public health crisis. Instead, it asked the Chief Secretaries of both States to sit with the Union Health Secretary and iron out a solution. Meanwhile, the apex court urged Kerala not to take any precipitative action based on the High Court order.
The court issued notice to Kerala on the appeal filed by Karnataka, represented by advocate Shubhranshu Padhi. It listed the case for further hearing on April 7.
Karnataka, in its appeal against the High Court order, said the blockade was put in place in the interest of public health. The situation regarding Coronavirus was “really dire”, it said. It warned that opening the blockade would cause a law and order issue as its local population wanted the border to remain sealed.
Karnataka argued that Kerala was the “worst-affected” State in the country with nearly 194 coronavirus cases. In this, Kasaragod, adjoining Karnataka, was the “worst affected” district of Kerala with over a 100 positive cases.
MP’s plea
The court also separately considered a writ petition by Kasaragod MP Rajmohan Unnithan for an order to forthwith open the State border.
The parliamentarian, represented by advocates Haris Beeran and Pallavi Pratap, urged the court to issue an ex-parte stay on the operation of the blockade imposed by Karnataka with its border States.
Mr. Unnithan said Karnataka’s blockade was “ill-planned and dangerous” and had led to loss of lives. Two patients from Kerala, in need of urgent medical care, died after their ambulances were denied entry at the border by the Karnataka authorities.
Bengaluru, Mar 27: In a preparatory measure to tackle any exigency in the backdrop of spread of coronavirus, the Karnataka government has asked district administrations to use as quarantine centres the residential schools and hostels that come the under Social Welfare department.
"Wherever necessary, these residential schools and hostels can be converted as quarantine facility without any extra cost by the district administrations," Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol said in a statement.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka stood at 55, including two deaths and three discharged persons, as on Thursday.
Karjol, who is also the Minister in-charge of Social Welfare department said, in view of holidays for educational institutions, there were no students staying in the residential schools and hostels and hence they can be used for quarantine purpose.
All the residential schools at hostels in districts and taluks are spacious and have all required facilities like rooms, kitchen, toilets, bathrooms, libraries among others, the Minister said adding most of them were located away from densely populated areas.
Gadag, Aug 1: A woman in Gadag district of Karnataka mortgaged her 'mangalsutra' to buy a television set for her children following the Karnataka government's decision to continue the classes through TV amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A resident of Radder Naganur village, Kasturi, who is also a mother of two, purchased a television set against her 'mangalsutra' for Rs 14,000. She bought the TV after her children's school teachers asked them to attend classes via the television set.
Kasturi said, "I can not send the children to the neighbours' house every day and it was necessary for them to study. We had no other option but to buy a TV set."
She said, "Both, my husband and I are daily wage workers and during coronavirus, we do not have work or money."
"I sold my 'mangalsutra' for Rs 20,000 and bought a TV for Rs 14,000," said Kasturi while happily adding, "Now, my kids can study at home itself."
Kasturi's daughter, Surekha said, "We did not have the TV for several months but now when we have it, we will study and get a bigger 'mangalsutra' for my mother."
Comments
Need tough punishment.
Instead of helping with lesser price, troubling the people. These are cruels.
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