Mangaluru: Youth found dead inside newly bought car parked on highway

Bengaluru, April 2: At least three people have been arrested by police in connection with the attack on ASHA worker Krishnaveni in Bengaluru's Byatarayanapura area.

Earlier in the day, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao said that an investigation was initiated into the incident in which ASHA workers were attacked.

"I have appointed Pulikeshi Nagar ACP, Tabarak Fathima, to investigate the matter. A case will be registered and action will be taken. ASHA workers will be protected by the police to carry out their functions," Rao told ANI here.

Earlier, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan visited one of the ASHA workers who was allegedly attacked by unidentified miscreants and termed the incident as "completely demoralising" for the workers.

ASHA workers, who were deployed to spread awareness about coronavirus and identify suspected cases, were allegedly attacked by a group of locals in Byatarayanapura here on Wednesday.

The workers said that the locals did not allow them to work and around 100 people gathered at the spot and harassed them.

This comes as the country is under a 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Ballari, June 30: A video clip of dead bodies of covid-19 victims being disgracefully thrown into a pit said to be in Karnataka’s Ballari has gone viral on social media triggering outrage from netizens.

Ballari Deputy Commissioner SS Nakul ordered a probe. He told media persons that the veracity of the video is still under question and that it still needs to be established if the video was taken in Ballari.

In the video, a pit is seen which appears to be disinfected. The video features masked men covered in body suits bringing dead bodies from a black hearse van in black body bags one by one and throwing the dead bodies into the same pit. In all, three dead bodies are thrown into the same pit in the video.

"We have assigned an Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) to enquire and verify the same. We are awaiting reports. We don't know yet if it (the video) is from Ballari or not," Nakul said.

The district which has so far reported around 800 cases in the last three months has also witnessed around two dozen deaths.

Twitterati on Tuesday raised questions about the handling of the bodies. "Even dead have some respect and they deserved a decent burial," said a social activist from Ballari. Similar reactions echoed on social media and some also pointed out on how the family members who have to stay away from burials feel about it.

Covid burial protocol

According to the protocol set by the Union Health Ministry for the burial of Covid-19 patients, the patients' orifices (nose, mouth and ears) have to be sealed and the body has to be wrapped in three layers of personal protective equipment (PPE). Thereafter it should be placed in a body bag. Family members should not be allowed to accompany the body in the hearse van. Covid-19 victims have to be given a deep burial. The grave should be minimum 10-feet deep.

The grave should be disinfected with bleaching powder and the area should be cordoned off so that the general public is not in the vicinity.  The vehicle used to transport the dead body of a Covid-19 victim -- ambulance or a hearse van -- has to be disinfected for 16 hours before being used again. Most Covid-19 victims in the state have had burials in the absence of family members as they are generally in quarantine for being the primary contacts of the patient.

Karnataka | Covid victims’ bodies thrown into pit; probe ordered after video goes viral pic.twitter.com/gOykDU7UKn

— coastaldigest.com (@coastaldigest) June 30, 2020

Bengaluru, Jul 18: Bringing a major change in the  administration of Bengaluru, which has emerged as a Covid-19 hotspot, the state government on Saturday transferred B H Anil Kumar out of the BBMP and brought N Manjunath Prasad to take his place. 

Manjunath Prasad, who headed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) before being replaced by Kumar, will take over with immediate effect. The government has also placed him in concurrent charge of the Revenue Department as well as the Disaster Management, Bhoomi and UPOR.

Kumar, an Additional Chief Secretary, has been put in a place where earlier a secretary was posted. He now heads the Department of Public Enterprises. The posting would have brought him two spots down had it not been for the government upgrading it to the level of additional chief secretary. 

Anil Kumar, who was earlier praised for his work to contain the coronavirus pandemic, had faced criticism by the High Court of Karnataka for the BBMP's failure to help people in containment zones as well as other issues on the spread of the pandemic. 

Sources in the government said, pressure has been building up against Anil Kumar over the last two months after most of the Bengaluru MLAs complained to the chief minister's office.

"No MLA backed him. Everyone had a problem," a source said. 

Things came to the head with regard to a Rs 436 crore project given to KRIDL. "The issue reached the chief minister's office as all the MLAs took an issue with the way the project was awarded," a source said. 

Another source said that Kumar came under fire after a central team flagged the issue of failing Covid-19 surveillance measures in Bengaluru. The central team's criticism, it is widely believed in the government, came as the last straw.