NIA officer Mohammad Tanzil shod dead

May 28: The Karnataka State Election Commission on Thursday announced postponement of gram panchayat polls citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Out of 6,025 gram panchayats, the tenure of 5,800 gram panchayats will end by June-August 2020.

"After examining the feasibility of conducting general elections to gram panchayats, the State Election Commission, considering the current situation as exceptional circumstance, has decided to temporarily postpone the general elections to the gram panchayats," the SEC said in a release.

It said after examining the situation in the days to come, the decision will be taken on holding the general elections to the gram panchayats.

The CEC also states that report by Deputy Commissioners of districts on holding the elections was verified and it has been found that district administrations are involved in COVID-19 related work and there will be shortage of staff and transport facilities for the elections. Besides, there would be a problem in maintaining law and order.

Last week through a letter to Deputy Commissioners of districts, the commission had sought opinion on holding panchayat polls amid the COVID-19 crisis. It had also pointed out that electoral roll needs to be prepared and reservations had to be allocated as per the new amendments.

Stating that the state election commission's decision to postpone gram panchayat elections was against the provisions of the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act 1993, the Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah said the Congress will question this "undemocratic act" in the court of law.

He accused the commission of playing to the BJP's tune and said the congress will protest the decision at gram panchayat level.

Opposition parties in the state, especially congress, have been demanding elections.

The government was in favour of postponement of polls and wants to have administrative committees to govern the panchayats, until the polls are held, according to government sources.

The Congress, raising apprehension about administrative committees, has accused the government of conspiring to have ruling BJP workers as its members.

A congress delegation had last week submitted a petition to State Election Commissioner B Basavaraju and urged the Commission to hold elections.

The congress had even suggested continuation of sitting panchayat members until the polls are held, instead of appointing administrative committees.

Tumkur, Feb 9: A special puja was performed at the Durga Parameshwari temple and the Shaneshwara temple in Karnataka's Rangana Halli village to save people from coronavirus.

Yashwanth Shastri, a priest, said: "We performed this special puja on Friday to save the world from virus and diseases like corona and H1N1."

"Our ancestors used to perform a special puja for the betterment of society and save the world from viruses when they attacked," he said.

Coronavirus originated in China's Wuhan city in December last year and has since spread to various cities around the world.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the coronavirus outbreak as a global health crisis.

Mangaluru, Jun 28: The patience and presence of mind exhibited by the family members of youth covid-19 victim thwarted the attempt by a few miscreants to create communal disharmony in the coastal city today.

A 31-year-old youth from Idya in Surathkal, who was under treatment for covid-19 at designated Wenlock Hospital in the city, passed away last night. 

Even though there is a Muslim graveyard under the jurisdiction of Idya mosque, it was waterlogged due to heavy rains. 

Hence, the Idya mosque management had obtained permission from Mangaluru’s Bolar mosque management to bury the mortal remains of the youth in Bolar graveyard. 

All necessary arrangements were made at the Bolar graveyard for the burial this morning. Meanwhile, a few residents of Bolar belonging to another community staged a protest against bringing covid-19 victim’s mortal remains to Bolar.

Mohammad Husain, general secretary of Bolar mosque, said that the family members of the departed youth exhibited their presence of mind and urged the Muslims of Bolar to preserve communal harmony.

“The Bolar mosque committee had given green signal for the burial and all arrangements were made. Meanwhile, a few people staged protest and warned us against burying the covid-19 victim’s body. When the aggrieved family members came to know this, they immediately cancelled the plan,” he said. 

“The aggrieved family requested us to uphold communal amity and co-existence. They decided to bury the body in Idya itself. Then the protesters also returned,” he said.

Burial in Bolar after DC’s intervention

When the mortal remains were being taken towards Surathkal in the ambulance, the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada ordered the authorities concerned to take a U-turn and bring back mortal remains to Bolar.  

The DC said it was wrong to take the mortal remains to another place after making all necessary armaments in Bolar graveyard. In order to pacify the porters it was decided to dig another grave on the other side of the graveyard, sources said.