Protest against temple rape turns violent; saffron groups stage counter protest; Simha blames SDPI

Bengaluru, Jul 22: Karnataka's Covid-19 task force on Tuesday decided that the state government will regulate the supply of Remdesivir, the drug used in the treatment of coronavirus infected patients, to private hospitals to check black marketing and hoarding.

"Remdesivir which is currently available in the government hospitals will be supplied to private hospitals through the government.

This will help curb black marketing of this drug," Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar's office said in a release.

Along with Sudhakar, other task force members, including Health Minister Sriramulu, Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan and Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar attended the meeting. However, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai was not part of it as he was out of Bengaluru.

At the meeting, the government has also fixed the rate for Covid-19 tests in private labs- Rs 2,000 for government referred cases and 3,000 for self-reporting cases.

It was also decided to purchase 4 lakh antigen test kits and 5 lakh swab test kits to ramp up testing, the release said, adding that approvals have also been given for additional drugs for the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

The decisions also included increasing monthly salary for Ayush doctors to 48,000, MBBS doctors to 80,000 and nurses to get 30,000 for next 6 months.

The task force also made it clear that private hospitals have to reserve 50 percent beds for the government for Covid-19 treatment. The remaining 50 percent can be used by the private hospitals for Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 treatment.

Private hospitals provide treatment under Ayushman Bharat scheme (ABARK) for Covid-19 patients.

Those cases in which treatment does not cover under the scheme can be charged as per the user charges, the release said.

A committee will be formed to supervise and recommend the purchase of equipment and medicines for Covid-19 treatment, which will be headed by ACS, ITBT Department.

Approval has been given for the procurement of N-95 masks and lakh PPE kits for the safety of healthcare workers. The decision also has been taken to connect oxygen pipeline to 4,736 beds in 17 government medical colleges, which will enable high flow oxygen for these beds besides being beneficial for future use as well.

According to the release, 16 RTPCR and 15 Automated RNA extraction units will be established to ramp up testing and this will help achieve the target of 50,000 tests per day. "On the whole approvals given for purchase of equipment and upgradation of existing facilities at government hospitals is estimated to be about Rs 500 Crore," it added.

Bengaluru, Jan 7: Slogans of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ rent the air at Town Hall on Monday evening as thousands of students, social activists, lawyers, doctors and theatrepersons among others staged a protest to denounce Sunday’s attack on the students and faculty of New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

“This is unacceptable. As students living in hostels, we are now worried about our safety,” said Prakruthi Kishore, a student of National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru.

Rishi Kumar, a student of Indian Institute of Science, pitched in. “JNU is an extremely protected university located in the national capital. It’s surprising that such an incident occurred amid tight security.”

Delhi police and the government need to wake up and take stringent action against the goons, Kumar said, adding: “Students can’t be treated like puppets. The government needs to act immediately.”

“The government is behaving shamelessly by sending goons to threaten students and professors of JNU,” said Alokanath Pandit, a lawyer.

With “Zor se bolo-azadi, tum din me maaro-azadi, hum raat me ayenge-azadi,” drowning the cacophony of traffic at the intersection, the sloganeering reached a crescendo around 6pm as the protesters raised their hands in a show of solidarity with the beleaguered JNU community.

Theatrepersons Prasanna and Arundathi Nag, farmer leader Kodihalli Chandrashekar and social activists Tara Krishnaswamy and Srinivas Alavilli were present at the protest venue. “It is not fair that educational institutions are now becoming the target. First, they hiked fees and now they are attacking students. What is the government doing,” Arundathi asked.

“JNU has always been an institution which has raised its voice against atrocities across the country as its students harbour no fear. This is an alarm bell for the country and the government to wake up. Students are the future and can’t be targeted,” she added.

Chandrashekar said Narendra Modi is unfit to be the Prime Minister as he doesn’t keep his word. “Modi said he will help farmers but has done nothing for them. He said he will provide employment to students but is now making them furious,” he said.

Mangaluru, Feb 25: Notorious gangster Ravi Poojary,

who has been extradited to India from Senegal, has 34 cases registered against him within the city police commissionerate.

Now in Bengaluru police custody for interrogation in connection with several cases there, Poojary faces cases relating to murder, murder attempt, extortion and threat calls in the city, police sources said.

Sources said the city police are trying to get Pujari for interrogation though it would take a while as the court has allowed Bengaluru police to keep him in custody for questioning and evidence taking for 15 days.

Most of the cases in the city against him, 28 of them, are in connection with threat calls.

He had allegedly made threat calls in 2015 to the then state ministers B Ramanath Rai and Abhayachandra Jain, demanding immediate arrest of the accused in the murder of Bajrang Dal worker Prashanth Poojary.

All the cases against Poojary in the city were registered between 2007 and 2018.

Cases involving murder, death threats and shootouts are among the cases to be investigated, the sources said.

A total of 28 cases of death threat calls, one of murder, three of shootouts, one of abduction and a case of funding his associates lodged in prison are the crimes being probed by the city police.

The cases are now pending in courts at different stages of trial.

Cases of making threat calls to businessmen using his associates demanding protection money have been registered at Moodbidri, Kavoor, Kadri, Konaje, Barke and Urwa police stations.

Some of his associates were imprisoned in 2012 in connection with threat calls to a businessman from Kinnigoli.

The case relating to providing them money while in prison was also registered in the same year.

Pujari, wanted in many cases including extortion and murder in different parts of the country, including Karnataka and who had been on the run for over 15 years, was deported to Senegal following his arrest and later extradited

He had jumped bail in Senegal last year after being arrested there.