Kodagu disaster: Shattered parents of ‘vanished’ daughter helplessly cremate her wooden effigy

Harsha Raj Gatty | coastaldigest.com
October 12, 2018

Aggrieved over their failure to trace their beloved daughter, who was “vanished” when massive floods and landslides wrecked havoc in parts of Karnataka nearly two months ago, parents of the class 10 girl have laid her effigy to rest at Jodupala, a calamity hit village in Kodagu district, bordering Dakshina Kannada.

Draped in a traditional Kodava saree, decked with sports medals, school bag, select ear rings and jewelleries that were among the favorites of their daughter, Somayya and Jayanthi silently accompanied an effigy along with a lengthy procession of family members, relatives, neighbours and the classmates of Manjula on Thursday, October 11. The wooden sculpted effigy was in memory of a 15-year old, whose whereabouts are unknown since August 17.

Manjula, originally a resident of Bettatturu, was residing with her maternal uncle Basappa, aunt Gauramma and her cousin Monisha at Jodupala. "Along with being good at studies, she was an ace throw-ball player, having brought several laurels to school and the district. To pursuit her sporting passion and reduce her daily commute, she resided at her relative’s place," Ganapathy, Principal of a local school said.

However, when heavy rains lashed Kodagu in August this year, several areas of Jodupala witnessed severe landslides. One such landslide hit the house of Basappa on August 17, burying the family.

With subsequent relief efforts, the rescue officials were able to retrieve and positively identify the body of Basappa, Gauramma and Monisha, but Manjula's body was not discovered.

Several attempts were made by the personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF); the matter was even brought to the notice of legislator KG Bopaiah, who requested the authorities to intensify the search for the missing member of the family but to no avail. "In September, a skeleton remain was found in surrounding area of the collapsed house, but later it was found to be of some animal," Poornima, a local resident said.

Meanwhile, the family has been kept in abeyance from any monetary assistance from the authorities in the absence of the 'body'. Nevertheless, the family decided to cremate the body of Manjula at the same spot where the house collapsed. "I have three other children. My only regret is being unable to see my daughter's face in the final moments, which is emotionally draining me. "We only want to ensure that we perform the final rites of our child, so that at least her soul may rest in peace," Somayya said.

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 12,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 12: Karnataka on Friday reported 464 discharges, its highest, as the state confirmed 271 new cases of COVID-19 and seven related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 6,516 and the death toll to 79.

In a significant development, the day also saw the total number of discharges overtaking the number of active cases in the state.

As of June 12 evening, cumulatively 6,516 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 79 deaths and 3,440 discharges, the Health department said in its bulletin.

It said, out of 2,995 active cases, 2,976 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 19 are in ICU.

The seven deaths include four from Bengaluru, two from Kalaburagi and one from Hassan.

Those from Bengaluru are three women aged 61, 65 and 49 and a 52-year old man.

Among the dead from Kalaburagi are two men aged 53 and 48 while a 60-year old man from Hassan also succumbed to the virus.

Out of 271 new cases, 92 are returnees from other states, majority of them from neighbouring Maharashtra.

While 14 are those who returned from other countries.

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Ballari accounted for 97 cases, followed by Bengaluru urban 36, Udupi 22, Kalaburagi 20, Dharwad 19, Dakshina Kannada 17, Bidar 10, nine each from Hassan and Mysuru, Tumakuru 7, Shivamogga 6, four each from Raichur and Uttara Kannada, three each from Chitradurga and Ramanagara, Mandya 2, and one each from Belagavi, Vijayapura and Kolar.

Udupi district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 991 infections, followed by Kalaburagi (816) and Yadgir (735).

Among discharges also Udupi tops the list with a total of 474, followed by Kalaburagi (345) and Bengaluru urban (299).

A total of 4,26,341 samples have been tested so far, with 9,835 on Friday alone.

So far 4,11,244 samples have been reported as negative, and out of them 9,139 were reported negative today.

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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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News Network
February 11,2020

Thrissur, Feb 11: The latest test result of the woman medical student, who arrived here from China's Wuhan region and was the first positive case from India for the novel Coronavirus (nCoV), has come out negative, health officials said on Monday.

Her condition was "stable", they said.

According to the state health department as of now, 31 people are in isolation wards across various hospitals in the state.

"The blood test result of the first patient from Thrissur, from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) testing centre at Alappuzha, shows a negative result.

But we need confirmation from the NIV at Pune," a senior medical officer told news agency.

After the first positive case was reported from Thrissur, two other Keralite students from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, had tested positive in Alappuzha and Kasaragod districts.

The health department had earlier said those in isolation wards of various hospitals in the state have come down to 34.

"A total of 3,367 are under observation across the state, of which 3,336 are under home quarantine," a release issued by the health department said.

The department has already sent at least 364 samples for testing at the NIV at Pune and so far 337 results have returned negative.

The ''state calamity'' alert, which was declared on February 3, was withdrawn on Friday after no new positive cases of infection were detected.

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