Madani's supporters go on a rampage

Bengaluru, Jul 19: Three legislators of the opposition Congress in Karnataka, including 2 MLAs and 1 MLC tested positive for coronavirus and are under treatment, a party official said on Saturday.

"Our Bailhongal MLA Mahantesh Koujalgi in Belagavi district and Humnabad MLA Rajashekhar Patil and his MLC brother Chandrashekhar Patil in Bidar district tested positive for the infection and are under treatment at designated hospitals," party spokesman Ravi Gowda told media persons in Bangaluru.

Koujalgi's swab sample was taken on Friday after he showed signs of illness and its result turned positive earlier in the day.

"As Koujalgi attended a review meeting at Bailhongal, about 20 officials who participated in the meeting have been home quarantined," said Gowda.

Koujalgi is the second lawmaker in the state's northwest region to test positive after BJP's Belagavi North assembly segment MLA Anik Benake tested positive for the virus on July 15.

"Patil brothers were in self quarantine after meeting BJP's Bidar Lok Sabha member Bhagwanth Khuba, who tested positive on Wednesday. Their tests also showed they were infected with the virus," Gowda said.

Congress MLC Sandesh Nagaraj, who tested positive on Friday, is under treatment at a private hospital in Mysuru.

Dakshina Kannada district Youth Congress president Mithun Rai is in institutional quarantine in Bengaluru after he tested positive for the infection.

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.

New Delhi, Mar 20: An official of South Western Railway has been suspended for "hiding" her son, who returned from Germany and later tested positive for coronavirus.

The youth has been hiding at a railway guest house in Bengaluru, officials said on Friday.

"She (the railway official) not only failed to inform authorities about her son's return from Germany, but also endangered the lives of others by lodging him in a railway rest house near the main Bangalore railway station," railway spokesperson E Vijaya said.

The Assistant Personnel Officer (Traffic) has been suspended, Vijaya said.

The 25-year-old man, who came from Germany via Spain and was instructed to be in home quarantine after he landed at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on March 13, later tested positive for Covid-19 on March 18.

"She virtually hid her son to protect her family but endangered all of us," a South Western Railway official said.