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Bengaluru, May 12: Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said that the Central and Karnataka government have failed in containing the coronavirus spread despite having enough time for preparations.

"Central and state government failed in properly controlling COVID-19. The first coronavirus case was reported in Kerala on January 30. Lockdown was imposed on March 24. Both Centre and state had enough time for preparations," Siddaramaiah said in a press meet here.

He said that the Central government did not stop the airline services on time.

"Karnataka government might have been able to stop COVID-19 properly. However, both the state and central government are playing politics over the issue and blaming Tablighi Jamaat for the spread, which is a political strategy painted by the RSS," Siddaramaiah said.

"Who gave the licence to Tablighi's international convention? Who gave them permission in Delhi? They didn't control it. Central government is directly responsible for the increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases in India," he added.

Siddaramaiah said that the lockdown was imposed without any preparation, which he said caused huge problems for the migrant workers across the country.

"Now, the government is collecting ticket fare and looting migrant workers. They don't have jobs or food, they don't have money, and they earn every day to survive. How will they pay for the tickets? Why the government is not arranging for free trains?" the Congress leader said.

He said that around Rs 35,000 crore have been credited to PM CARES fund, Rs 3,000 crore of which was credited from Karnataka alone. "Why are they not using that money?" he asked.

Siddaramaiah said that the party is demanding for the Centre to arrange for migrant workers to return to their native places across the country free of cost.

"We asked Chief Minister to call an all party meeting. We gave many suggestions, which this government did not consider. We also took a delegation and gave a memorandum about farmers, daily wage workers, road side vendors, barbers, problems faced by the unorganized sector. But this government didn't consider any of it," he said.

Questioning the Central government's suggestion to States to amend their Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Acts, Siddaramaiah said that the move is against the federal system of the country and claimed that it harms the interests of small scale farmers.

He said that the BJP-led state government has also decided to postpone the Gram panchayat elections in the state and is trying to nominate their party workers for village panchayat elections.

"The Government must continue with the present members of the Gram panchayat. If BJP tries to nominate their party members to village panchayats, we will take to streets to protest despite the lockdown," Siddaramaiah added.

Mau/ Kalaburagi, Mar 26: Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday asked lockdown violators in Mau to do push-ups and squats as a punishment.
In Karnataka's Kalaburagi, police personnel punished the violators of the lockdown.
In his address to the nation on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country effective from midnight to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.
According to the Health Ministry, the total number of positive COVID-19 cases in India reached 606, including 43 foreign nationals.

Bengaluru, Mar 19: In the backdrop of coronavirus pandemic, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has reported huge revenue losses in March.

According to official data, the cumulative revenue loss in all services from March 1 till March 18 has amounted to around Rs 8,58,86,462 crores.

This includes cumulative revenue loss of Rs 5,33,82,456 in premium services, and cumulative revenue loss of Rs 3,25,04,006 in non-premium services.

The highest reported revenue loss in all services was reported on March 18, which amounted to Rs 1,90,25,183.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the state have reached 15, according to the Karnataka Health Minister.

A total of 169 positive cases of coronavirus have been reported in India so far, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Thursday.