Religion row: Decision on expert panel deferred

Mangaluru  Mar 27: Thinking that he might have contracted the coronavirus infection, a 55-year-old man has committed suicide in Bantwal taluk of Dakshina Kannada district.

The deceased has been identified as Sadashiva Shetty, a resident of Abbettu under Meramajalu village. He was working in a petrol bunk.

It is learnt that Sadashiva suspected that he might have come in contact with coronavirus infected people while working in the petrol bunk.

He was scared that the same might get transferred to his family members through him. 

He was depressed for past few days. Today, he hanged himself from the ceiling fan of his house, sources said.

A case has been regarded at the Bantwal rural police station and investigations are on.

Mangaluru, Jun 3: Mangaluru MLA and former minister U T Khader has urged the state government and Dakshina Kannada district administration to take steps to facilitate the return of Indians stranded in foreign countries amid covid lockdown.

A delegation comprising Mr Khader, DCC President K Harish Kumar, and MLC Ivan D’Souza met District In-charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary and submitted a memorandum on Tuesday.

“Kannadigas who are working outside the state are in distress due to the lockdown. More than 50,000 people had uploaded applications on Seva Sindhu portal seeking permission to return to their villagers and are waiting for permission. With the authorities failing to take any decision, they are worried,” said the delegation.

The government should initiate measures to get them back and quarantine them, urged the delegation.

Mr Khader said, “Many workers stranded in foreign countries are eager to return home. The district administration should make arrangements to quarantine those returning from foreign countries and other states.

There are thousands of migrant labourers from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar stranded in DK. They are waiting to return to their families. The state government should facilitate their return journey, the delegation urged.

MLC Ivan D’Souza said, “Assistance should be provided to private bus staff, beedi workers, tailors, garage labourers and street vendors who are in distress. The price of Covid-19 tests in private laboratories should be reduced.”

The delegation informed that after Wenlock Hospital was converted into the designated COVID-19 hospital, poor patients are facing many inconveniences. A portion of the hospital should be earmarked for treating other patients, they said.

The Department of Preuniversity Education, Karnataka has declared the board exams or pre university I exam results. To get results online, the students need to log on to result.bspucpa.com and have to provide their registration number and date of birth. 
Apart from the online portal, the students will get the results via mail or SMS.

“The results of the first year Pre-University Examinations will be announced on May 5. The results will be sent directly to students. Hence, colleges will not be displaying the results,” said S Suresh Kumar, Primary and Secondary Education Minister. 

The pre-university course of PUC is a two-year course including class 11 and class 12 called PUC I and PUC II. It is based on PUC score that candidates can get admission to varsities.

Earlier, the Karnataka PUC 1 result was to be announced on March 27 which was postponed and hence the revised dates are announced now.

The board exam results have been put on halt due to the nation-wide lockdown imposed after the coronavirus pandemic gripped India. As of May 3, the number of people infected by the coronavirus in India had crossed over 40,000.

The HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had in a meeting asked state and central boards to resume their evaluation process and declare the results to curb any further delay in the academic cycle. The academic cycle has been delayed by over a month due to the coronavirus. Now, the colleges will start by September instead of July.