Ramya attracts thousands in Mangaluru; miscreants pelt stones

Bengaluru, Jul 19: A man protested in front of Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa's residence on Saturday alleging lack of medical care claimed the life of his one-month-old infant girl, police said on Saturday.

Venkatesh sat with the baby's photograph in front of the Chief Minister's house, saying the girl developed health issues on July 11 and he rushed her to a hospital, but it turned him away, the police said.

He said he had approached about a dozen hospitals and all of them refused to provide the baby any medical care. Eventually, the baby died.

This forced Venkatesh to hold a protest to draw the Chief Minister's attention to the issue, the police said.

The demonstration drew public attention and a few people joined him in the protest, they said.

Bengaluru, Mar 9: The BJP government in Karnataka on Monday scrapped the Shaadi Bhagya Scheme that was launched by Congress government in the state in 2013.

Under the scheme, Rs 50,000 was given to Muslim brides for marriage expenses after they submitted their Aadhar and BPL cards.

While the previous coalition government had allocated Rs 60 crore budget for the scheme, the BJP government decided to discontinue the scheme. Congress called the move by the state government as "anti-minority".

"They have launched a scheme for the majority community. I welcome that. But why are you discontinuing one scheme? It is a small scheme where marginalized people get a little help from the government," Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad told reporters.

"He (Karnataka Chief Minister) has wilfully reduced the money allotted to all the schemes," he added.

BJP MLA Basavana Gowda Patil Yantal welcomed the decision of the Karnataka Government to scrap the scheme.

"The minority does not need appeasement because equal citizenship needs to apply to all in this country. I wholeheartedly welcome this move by the Karnataka Government," Yantal told reporters.

"Should we not give the majority people anything in India? India not giving anything to the majority, is that secular? We have already given them Pakistan," he said.

The MLAs from the minority community in the state have demanded a meeting with the Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.

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.