Seven drown as SUV plunges into lake at midnight in Hassan

Bengaluru, May 2: JDS leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy accused the Mandya district administration of the surge in COVID-19 cases in the district and not quarantining 7,000 labourers who arrived here from Mumbai.

"As we know that 16,000 labourers from Mandya were working in Mumbai, out of which 7,000 people have arrived in the district. However, none of them was quarantined properly which is a violation of COVID-19 lockdown," Kumaraswamy told reporters here on Friday.

He claimed the district administration has shown "gross negligence" in their duty in following the procedure of COVID-19 as "one COVID-19 patient's dead body which was brought here from Mumbai has led to more cases in the district and those who accompanied the body have also tested positive for the virus."

Kumaraswamy appealed to the state government to strictly maintain lockdown norms and do not allow any relaxations in view of the rise in COVID-19 cases, stating that "any kind of relaxation could lead to a huge disaster."

Mangaluru, May 24: Muslims across coastal Karnataka today observed Eid Al-Fitr by offering Eid prayers at home instead of mosques and Eidgahs.

For the first time the cities of Mangaluru and Udupi wore a deserted look on the day of Eid. Strict implementation of the lockdown was seen in the both cities. All vehicles except those transporting essentials remained off the roads.

Following the orders of orders of the deputy commissioners of the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi and guidance of religious scholars and Qadhis, Muslims preferred not to venture out of homes on the day of Eid. The 36 hours of complete lockdown which came into force yesterday at 7 p.m. will relaxed tomorrow morning at 7 a.m.

The Eidgah at Light House Hill area of the city and other prominent mosques, where thousands used to gather to offer namaz during festivals, were empty today.

Photos of simple Eid celebrations were share on social media to keep the spirit of festival alive in times of pandemic.

This time Muslims in the region had also decided not to buy any new clothes for Eid. Campaigns were run in the moth of Ramadan to encourage the Muslims to donate the amount of new clothes to the needy instead.

Throughout the month of Ramadan Muslim organisations were distributing food among the stranded migrant labourers in the region.

Bengaluru, May 20: A mysterious "boom" heard in large parts of Bengaluru this afternoon left residents of the city and social media users puzzled. While the source of the sound is being investigated, the Indian Air Force (IAF) indicated that it could be the result of "routine test flights that necessitate going supersonic a times".

The sound was heard from as far as the Bengaluru airport in Devanahalli to the IT hub of Electronic City 54 km away. It was also heard in Kalyan Nagar in east Bengaluru, central Bengaluru's MG Road and areas such as Marathahalli, Whitefield, Sarjapur and Hebbagodi.

IAF said no aircraft of training command was flying in the area. "However, ASTE (Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment) and HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) could have been undertaking their routine test flying, which necessitates going supersonic at times. These are done well beyond the city limits in specified sectors. However, considering the atmospheric conditions and reduced noise levels in the city during these times, the aircraft sound may become clearly audible even if it happened way out from the city," said the air force statement.

Many people had speculated that the sound could have been caused by a fighter jet such as a Mirage 2000.

"We have also asked the Air Force Control Room to check if it was a jet or supersonic sound. Bengaluru police are awaiting confirmation from the Air Force," Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao said in a statement.

It was not an earthquake, Karnataka's state disaster monitoring centre had tweeted earlier.

"Earthquake activity will not be restricted to one area and will be widespread. We have checked our sensors and there is no earthquake activity recorded today," the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre said, quoting its director Srinivas Reddy.

"The activity reported in Bengaluru is not due to an earthquake. The seismometers did not capture any ground vibration as generally happens during a mild Tremor. The activity is purely a loud unknown noise," the agency tweeted.

#Bangalore and #BangaloreBoom was among the top trends on Twitter this afternoon.

"We are trying to ascertain the source of the noise," a senior police officer said. "In Whitefield area, we have searched on the ground and so far, there is no damage to any property," he added. There were no calls to the police control room reporting any damage.