Utilize political parties for community welfare; don’t become their slaves: Raza Khan tells Muslims

Chikkamagaluru, Jul 22: Nine staff of the Anti Naxal Force (ANF) in Koppa in the district were tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.

Health officials said that these people don’t have any contacts outside as they were in the forest buffer zone. Now efforts were being made to find out how they contacted the Coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the Kalsa police station has been sealed down after four of its personnel tested positive.

Bengaluru, May 19: In the wake of assurance by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to look into their demands, hotels and restaurants in Karnataka today decided to continue takeaway services for three more days.

Hotels were also exempted from the total lockdown on Sundays in Karnataka - under the state guidelines issued for Lockdown 4.0.

The Karnataka Pradesh Hotel and Restaurants' Association (KPHRA) had earlier threatened to stop takeaway services over refusal to allow dine-in facility in the fourth phase of the lockdown. 

B Chandrashekar Hebbar, president of KPHRA said that the CM urged hoteliers to wait for three days, assuring that a decision will be taken. 

"We appraised the government over the mounting losses by keeping just take-away services open. Noting that social distancing and other guidelines will be followed, we urged him to allow dine-in facility," he said.

The Association will wait three more days before discontinuing parcel services, Hebbar said. 

The government also provided relaxation to hotels from the total lockdown announced in Karnataka on Sundays, he said. 

A package for hotel employees such as cooks and waiters, along the lines of those announced for farmers, cab drivers and weavers, was also sought in a petition submitted to the chief minister.

In fact the state government had expressed its willingness to open hotels under the Lockdown 4.0, subject to restrictions. However, the central guidelines do not allow dine-in services.

Mangaluru, May 31:  Even as the worst locust attack on India in recent years raised concerns over its impact on crops, swarms of locusts have triggered panic in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada too. 

Farmers in the coastal district were taken aback when they found the swarms of locusts, which they feared as the arrival of desert locusts in the region.

According to reports, Renjalady village under the limits of Nuji Baltila Gramp Panchayats in Kadaba taluk and Shirlalu village in Belthangady taluk witnessed locust attacks in last couple of days. 

“Locust swarms were seen in many areas. We have also alerted agriculture department. Already insects have destroyed crops of many farmers,” said a farmer in Shirlalu village.  

Joint director of Dakshina Kannada district agriculture department MC Seetha confirmed that officials have received information from villagers about the locust scare and entemologists have already visited the place to collect more information.

Not Desert Locusts?

“We contacted entemologists and forwarded the pictures that farmers sent to us. Looking at the picture, entemologists have opined that it may be calotropis locust or colour grasshopper. Desert locusts usually arrive in lakhs,” said Ms Seetha. Desert locusts that are destroying crops in other parts of India may not come to Dakshina Kannada, she added.