Thousands of Indian expats from across Saudi throng funeral of Emirate Khader in Jubail

Aurangabad, Jan 29: Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of creating a conflict between Hindu and Muslim communities in the country, former JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar has said the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) was adding fuel to the fire.

He was speaking at a rally held on Tuesday at Pathri in Parbhani district of Maharashtra against the CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). It was organised by NCP MLC Abdullah Durrani.

"Modi and Shah used to create conflicts between Hindus and Muslims during the Gujarat elections. Now they are adopting the same strategy in the country," Kumar alleged.

Citizens should keep the religious conflicts aside and question the present government about unemployment and the poor state of the economy, he said.

"Through the CAA, the government is adding fuel to the fire, which is already raging in the country," he alleged.

When anyone questions the government about the problems existing in the country, it in turn asks him about his citizenship, the former JNUSU leader alleged.

Bengaluru, Mar 4: With the number of Coronavirus positive cases in India increasing, health department officials in Karnataka are working round the clock to keep citizens safe.

But citizens are already panicking with 97 people in Bengaluru rushing to the government-run Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Chest Diseases (RGICD) on Tuesday with symptoms matching the coronavirus.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has now appealed for calm saying there is no coronavirus in the state.

"There is a difference in what appears in the media and what is on the ground. No need to panic. PM Modi is also looking into this. My health minister addressed the media and no one needs to panic. We are ready to tackle the situation," he added.

Dr. Nagaraj, director of RGICD, said the screening process began at the hospital on January 22 and they would see some 15-20 patients and take 5-6 swabs.

"Because of apprehensions, we saw 978 patients and took 27 swabs. We have also admitted 4 patients in the isolation ward," he added.

As of today, there are 5 patients admitted in the isolation ward of RGICD. Two came in close contact with the infected techie in Telengana and three foreign nationals from Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.

Tech parks on high alert

At the Manyata Tech Park in the city, a company sent out a circular regarding one of their associates who had travelled from a Level 3 country to India and had flu-like symptoms.

It says that the associate was advised to receive necessary screening and observation as mandated by the Karnataka State Health Department. The associate was screened by an authorized medical agency and determined to be asymptomatic.

As of Wednesday, the company located in the G3 campus of Manyata Tech Park has begun disinfecting and sanitizing the work location and all associates working out of this location have been advised to work from home until March 6.

A statement issued by Embassy spokesperson on March 4 to India Today TV indicated the authorities have activated their response plan.

"As of March 4, we are not aware of a single positive case for the virus in more than 2,00,000 people who work in our business parks. We do understand that one employee of a company at one of our parks who had travelled from a Level 3 country was screened in the last 36 hours and determined to be asymptomatic.

As a precaution, the premises are being disinfected and sanitized. The fact remains, we are not aware of a single confirmed case within over 15 business parks across India," the statement said.

Bengaluru, Mar 23: In the wake of the shutdown in several districts of the state to control the COVID-19 spread, Karnataka government on Monday said food would be provided free of cost through Indira Canteen for the poor who depend on daily wages for their livelihood.

The state-sponsored subsidised 'Indira Canteens' as of now serves breakfast at Rs 5 and lunch and dinner at a cost of Rs 10.

"In the interest of the poor, it has been decided to serve free food for poor. Through Indira Canteen, free food will be served for the entire day for the poor," Yediyurappa told reporters.

The Karnataka government has already announced shutdown of all commercial activities, barring essential services, in nine districts where COVID-19 cases have been reported till March 31.

They are: Bengaluru city, Bengaluru Rural, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Kalaburagi, Dharwad, Chikkaballapura, Kodagu and Belagavi.