Rahul Gandhi personally spoke to me; there are better opportunities in Congress: Mithun Rai

Bengaluru, Jul 1: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief DK Shivakumar on Wednesday said that the state Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa should apologise to the nation for the Ballari incident.

"It is shocking to see the Ballari incident. The way the dead bodies of the corona victims have been treated is very unfortunate. The entire country witnessed it. I request the Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to apologise to the nation. India is known for its values and traditions," Shivakumar told reporters here.

Earlier, Shivakumar had posted a video which allegedly showed officials 'inhumanly' dumping bodies of those patients who die of COVID into a pit in Ballari, the district administration confirmed it and said that the entire field team involved in the incident has been disbanded.

"It's disturbing to see bodies of COVID patients who have died being dumped inhumanly into a pit in Ballari. Is this civility? This is a reflection of how the government has handled this Corona crisis. I urge the govt to take immediate action and ensure that this doesn't happen again," Shivakumar's tweet, which also had a video of the incident embedded, read.

The Deputy Commissioner, Ballari issued a press note which stated that it had conducted an enquiry after the video surfaced and it was found that the video belonged to the district and "comprises of burial of eight people who passed away after succumbing to COVID-19."

Although, according to the DC, all protocols and SOPs were followed by the team during the burial process, however, the "disrespectful handling of the bodies while being lowered on to the ground by the field staff" led to the entire field team involved being disbanded and will be replaced by a new team trained by the HOD, Forensic, VIMS.

The district administration also issued an unconditional apology to the families of the deceased and to others who were hurt by the incident.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa also termed the behaviour of the staff "very inhuman and very painful" and urged the staff to tread cautiously with humanity in handling the funeral of those affected by the disease, and added, "Let's walk with humanity, and realize that there is no greater religion than humanity." 

Udupi, Jul 14: Abhijna Rao, a student of Vidyodaya PU College, Udupi, has emerged state topper in the science stream of II PUC. 

Abhijna has secured 596 marks in the II PUC examination-2020, the results of which were announced on Tuesday July 14. She scored a perfect 100 marks in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Computer Science (PCMC). In Sanskrit and English she scored 100 and 96 marks respectively.

She had secured second position in the Karnataka SSLC examinations two years ago.

She is daughter of Asha Rao and Vittal Rao, a retired professor. Her sister Raksha Rao has completed Engineering from NITK Suratkal.

“After securing second rank in the state in SSLC, my target was to score more in PUC examinations. My parents and lecturers have supported me in my studies. All my teachers gave me proper guidance. Vidyodaya College also supported me. I was studying on a daily basis. The exams were easy and I had expected to score above 590. I am very happy to score 596," she said.

Bengaluru, Jun 27: Karnataka witnessed the biggest single-day spike in Covid cases on Saturday as 918 cases were recorded and 11 more deaths were linked to the pandemic. 

In Bengaluru alone, 596 more people tested positive for the infection in the last 24 hours as three more fatalities were also confirmed by the Department of Health and Family Welfare Services.

Following is the district wise tally: