Belagavi, Feb 11: Tension prevailed for sometime here after a few villagers spotted four country-made pistols disposed in the garbage site by the road between Markandey Nagar – Waghavade village on Sunday. Police rushed to the spot and seized the arms which are believed to be of Portugal era.
Sources said some villagers noticed a pistol lying along with heaps of refuse. They informed Bhavakanna Patil, the owner of the agricultural field adjacent to the garbage site. Patil and the villagers checked the garbage and found three more pistols totalling four.
Police said the pistols are about 50 to 60 years old. Going by their condition, all rusted, it is believed that they were left unused for a long time. The Belagavi rural police who have filed a suo motu case related to the incident are getting into the skin of case to trace the owners and those who disposed them in the garbage pit.
According to preliminary investigation, it is learnt that such pistols were in vogue during Portugal rule in Goa. There are chances that those who inherited the arms may have disposed it for the fear of possessing weapon illegally. The chances of some notorious people who reside in the vicinity near Waghavade and surrounding areas, where burglaries and dacoity are frequently reported, disposing the arms due to the fear of police also cannot be ignored. Police Commissioner Lokesh Kumar was not available for comments.
Bengaluru, Jul 7: There seems no impact of Covid-19 on kharif crop sowing in Karnataka with the current year actually being ahead of previous years, according to an official here on Monday.
"In agriculture, as far as sowing is concerned, there is no impact of COVID-19," Agriculture Commissioner Brijesh Kumar Dikshit told IANS. One of the reasons, according to Dikshit, is that people in rural areas are aware, but not scared of the pandemic.
"In rural India, coronavirus is there. People are aware, not scared. They are taking precautions, but don't have any phobia," he said.
Another reason was that by June the number of infections in Karnataka was not as high as other states, when a lot of sowing was done, he said.
By the end of June, Karnataka saw 15,242 Covid-19 cases. Of that, 7,074 were active.
The sowing is ahead of previous year as it's mostly dependent on weather. "It's ahead of previous years. Agriculture is directed by weather and rains had been slightly earlier this year," he said.
According to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, at 185 mm the state received 14 mm less rain in June against the normal 199 mm. "It's like a normal year, or slightly a good year," he said.
Some crops will be sown in the last fortnight of July and few more will extend up to August 15. "The last two weeks will be critical and on July 31 we should be able to tell whether we are short or ahead," he said.
According to preliminary indications, the Commissioner said the area under agriculture is increasing this year, which could also be because that labourers might have come back.
Bengaluru, July 31: Denying irregularities in covid-19 equipment purchase by the Karnataka government, the state unit of the BJP has issued legal notices to Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar demanding that they apologize or face a defamation suit.
The notices seek a public apology for the allegations levelled against the government on irregularities in the procurement of Covid-19 equipment and supplies.
Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, the Karnataka Congress president, have been doggedly pursuing allegations of corruption against the BJP government and have demanded a judicial inquiry.
BJP general secretary N Ravi Kumar said that while the Congress leaders claimed that Rs 4,157 crore was spent during Covid-19, they also allege that the government has not responded to any of the 20 letters written by them. "If the government has not provided any answer to the Opposition, where did they get the figures from," he said.
None of the allegations of corruption is specific and the statements made are factually incorrect. "These statements, without any basis, have been issued calculatedly to lower the image and damage the reputation of the government, the Bharatiya Janata Party, representatives of the party and the ministers in the government," the notice issued on behalf of Ravi Kumar read.
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