Suresh Gopi's anti-violence speech in Mangaluru irks Sangh Parivar

Kasaragod, Mar 28: A pregnant Bihari migrant woman in labour gave birth in an ambulance after the Karnataka police allegedly refused to allow the ambulance carrying her to cross the border road to Mangaluru to reach her hospital.

The border road was shut due to the lockdown. The woman used to consult a doctor in Mangaluru across the border.

As Karnataka police stopped the vehicle at the border in Talapady, saying no vehicle, including ambulances from Kerala, could be permitted to their state, the drivers decided to take the woman was taken to the general hospital here, but she went into labour and delivered a baby girl in the vehicle

Both the mother and baby are doing fine, authorities said.

Hailing from Patna in Bihar, 25-year-old Gowri Devi and her husband were working in a local plywood factory in this north Kerala district, from where the maximum number of coronavirus cases have been reported so far in the state.

Those living in the border towns and villages of Kasaragod are dependent on the hospitals in Mangaluru as it is nearer, local people said.

The ambulance drivers- Aslam and Musthafa- said they stopped the vehicle by the wayside, making it safe for the woman. The baby girl and the mother were soon shifted to the government general hospital here and both of them are safe and healthy, they said.

Local people complained that not only pregnant women, but even patients requiring daily dialysis and emergency cardiac and cancer treatment were being sent back by Karnataka.

Mangaluru, Jan 5: Against the backdrop of Mangalore violence of December 19, Additional Director General of Police of Karnataka Amar Kumar Pandey visited the city and held a meeting with senior police officers.

According to senior police officials here on Sunday, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District Muslim Central Committee had planned to hold a protest against CAA at Nehru Maidan while the SKSSF had called for anti-CAA protest at State Bank area.

Though both the protests had been called off, there was an apprehension of a repeat incident of December 19 violence and hence the ADGP visited the city at the behest of state government and monitored the situation here for the entire day on Saturday.

The ADGP was unhappy that despite initial inputs and the imposition of Section 144 in the city, the situation on that day escalated to a level where police had to resort to firing only in this city.

Kota, May 9: Karnataka Yakshagana Academy has come to the rescue of artists in distress due to cancellation of all Yakshagana festivals following coronavirus outbreak and clamping of lock-down.

The academy spends lakh of rupees every year from the money sanctioned to it on training new artists, performances and documentation. However, no such activity was undertaken due to COVID-19. Hence, the academy is discussing to transfer a large amount of money to Yakshagana artists as emergency aid, Academy President Prof M A Hegde said here.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, he said that along with this aid the donations by the public and Yakshagana admirers too could be given to the artists.