Pejawar seer injured during Mantralayam trip, brought back to Udupi

Bengaluru, Apr 21: Bengaluru Police and administration has issued prohibitory orders in the city, with exemptions to essential and emergency services, to enforce the COVID-19 lockdown.

"In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 144 (1) Code of Criminal Procedure, I, Bhaskar Rao, IPS, Commissioner of Police and Additional District Magistrate, Bengaluru city hereby issue a prohibitory order within the limits of Bengaluru city commissioner on midnight of April 20, 2020, to midnight May 3, 2020," the order issued on Monday said.

Section 144 of the CrPC pertains to the power conferred to a District Magistrate, a sub-divisional Magistrate or any other Executive Magistrate to issue orders in urgent cases of a nuisance of apprehended danger.

"As per the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India on the measures for containment of COVID-19 epidemic, it is imperative to take stringent measures in the jurisdiction of Commissioner of Bengaluru city to prevent the spread of the disease," the order said.

As per the order, the offices of the Government of India, its autonomous and subordinate offices and public corporations shall remain closed with the exception of defence, central armed police force, treasury, public utilities, disaster management, power generation, and post office, etc.

Offices to the state government, their autonomous bodies, corporation, etc shall also remain closed except police, home guard, civil defence, fire and emergency services, electricity, water, sanitation and Mandis operated by Agriculture Produce Market Committee, etc, it added.

It said that municipal bodies, with staff required for essential services, will also remain functional during this period. Other essential and emergency services, like hospitals, shops, etc have also been exempted from the prohibitory orders.

Bengaluru,  Jul 12: In view of the rising COVID-19 cases in Bengaluru, a complete lockdown will be implemented in Bengaluru City and Bengaluru Rural areas from 8 pm on July 14 to 5 am on July 22.

"Essentials such as hospitals, groceries, milk, fruit, vegetables, medicines will be available during this period. In addition, medical and postgraduate examinations will happen as already scheduled," the Karnataka CMO informed.

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa appealed: "Co-operate with all social security policies, wear masks, and abide by government-issued lock-down guidelines for buying everyday items. Your collaboration is essential to controlling the spread of COVID-19 infection."

"I would like to congratulate all Asha activists, medical and police personnel, officers, volunteers, journalists and all those who work directly and indirectly to control the spread of COVID-19 infection," he added.

The Centre’s step-motherly attitude towards Kannadigas stranded in the Gulf countries in general and Saudi Arabia in particular has prompted the Kannadigas to resort social media campaign once again.

A couple of weeks ago, Twitterati had launched a campaigned to bring back Kannadidags stranded in Saudi Arabia. A variation of the hashtag #SaudiKannadigasNeedFlights trended today. 

Trend Setters India, which has taken the twitter campaign initiative, had urged the Kannadigas around the world to join the twitter storm at 4 p.m. IST on June 15, to exert pressure on the authorities concerned. Around 7 p.m. the hashtag began trending with thousands of tweets.

Millions of Kannadigas are working in Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. They contribute greatly to the Indian economy.

Even though government of India has launched Vande Bharat Mission for the repatriation of Indians stranded across the world, it has operated only a few flights from Saudi Arabia to Karnataka so far. Thousands of Kannadigas including pregnant women, elderly people, those who have lost jobs and those who need emergency medical care are still waiting for repatriation flights from Saudi Arabia to Mangaluru and Bengaluru.