Former security guard is now Udupi Zilla Panchayat chief!

Bengaluru, Jan 6: A delegation of Christians, led by Peter Machado, archbishop of Bengaluru, met chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Sunday and sought an amicable solution to the issue of installing a statue of Jesus Christ atop Kapalibetta in Harobele village, Kanakapura taluk.

Yediyurappa is learnt to have assured the delegation of doing the needful and said he would take a decision after the revenue department submits its report. The department is looking into various aspects of the issue, including the sanction of 10 acres of land for the purpose.

“The meeting was cordial and the chief minister lent us a patient hearing. Our only request was to settle the issue in a way that is acceptable to all sections of society,” Machado said. Congress functionary and Kanakapura legislator DK Shivakumar had laid the foundation stone for the 114-foot statue of Christ on Kapalibetta on Christmas Day at an event organised by the Harobele Kapalibetta Development Trust, which plans to install the statue.

The issue took a political hue when BJP functionaries objected, saying the land sanctioned to the trust is part of gomala (reserved for cattle grazing) land and any religious activity there would be illegal. Revenue minister R Ashoka sought a report and department officials said they would submit it in a week’s time.

Udupi, Feb 16: Nine people were killed after a private bus collided with a large roadside boulder in Udupi district in Karnataka on Saturday, the police said. The accident took place on Saturday evening, at around 5.45 pm, on the Mulnur Ghat at Abbas Kattingeri in Mala village, while the bus was on its way to Mangaluru from Sringeri, reported the news channel.

The bus, which was reportedly carrying around 35 passengers, was trying to manoeuvre a turn while travelling on a ghat road when the driver allegedly lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle hit a massive boulder and the impact caused seven people to die on the spot. Two others passed away while they were on the way to the hospital.

The deceased passengers have been identified as Radha Ravi, Yogendra, Preetham Gowda, Basavaraju, Angana, Sharul and Ranjitha. The cleaner of the bus was also killed in the accident.

According to reports, the passengers in the bus were mostly in their early 20s and were employees of Vital Records Private Limited near JCK Industrial Park. Century Vital Records is a data security company which works in the Hebbal Industrial Mysuru. The group was visiting Udupi, Hornadu and Kudremukh.

While some of the injured persons were rushed to Manipal hospital, others were taken to the Karkala city government hospital, police said.

The police have said that rash and negligent driving by the driver is likely to have caused the accident. A case has been registered at the Karkala Rural Police Station, the police said.

Last month, three persons were killed and four others were injured after a fatal collision between a van and a bus near Bengaluru. Both the vehicles caught fire after the impact, but while passengers of the bus, travelling from Bengaluru to Shivamogga, managed to escape, the three passengers who were trapped in the van could not escape and were charred to death.

Bengaluru, April 3: Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda has written to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stating that he has communicated in writing to Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to make arrangements for the passing of vehicles related to medical facilities and essential goods between Mangaluru and Kasargod.

"What made me write this letter is the pain and anguish I experienced when BM Farookhji, the national working president of JDS and K Krishnan Kutty, MLA and a member of your Cabinet and member of JDS, a coalition partner of your government brought to my notice the inhuman and inappropriate action on part of the authorities of Karnataka to block the interstate highway between Mangaluru and Kasargod, bringing the traffic movements between the two states and particularly to Kasargod district having a sizeable population of Kannadigas to a grinding halt," Gowda wrote in the letter.

"I immediately wrote a letter to Yeddiyurappaji, the Chief Minister of Karnataka to make arrangements to permit goods movement and the passage of ambulances and other vehicles for any emergency. But authorities of Karnataka government appears to be very adamant despite the assurance given before the High Court," it added.

Gowda said that the situation is very grim since he learnt that four to five patients died for want of medical facilities since the ambulances ferrying the patients were denied permission to cross the border, to avail treatment from the hospitals at Mangaluru.

He also condemned the Karnataka government for denying access to medical facilities to people in Kerala.

"I very strongly condemn the attitude of the BJP government in Karnataka denying access to people from Kerala to avail medical facilities on emergency and also the movement of essential goods for the survival of the people and deprivation of such emergency services amounts to violation of human rights and opposed to all norms of humanity and humanitarian considerations," the letter read.
Gowda said he will take up the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"I take this opportunity to assure you that I will take up this issue with the Prime Minister who had assured while imposing 21 days of lockdown that the supply of essential commodities will be maintained and hospital facilities will be kept open round the clock so as to prevent any untoward incident," he stated.