Karnataka to open electric vehicle recharging stations soon

In a heart-wrenching turn of events, the serene town of Banavasi in Sirsi taluk of Karnataka’s Uttara Kananda district, was struck by tragedy. A young boy lost his life after being struck by lightning on a fateful Saturday evening around 4p.m.

The victim, identified as 16-year-old Sajid Ashfaque Ali, was a bright tenth-grade student at Eden Way High School. Full of dreams and youthful energy, Sajid was enjoying an innocent game with his friends on the Jayanthi High School grounds when the unthinkable happened.

As ominous clouds gathered and rain began to pour, an unexpected bolt of lightning pierced the sky, striking Sajid. His friends watched in horror as he collapsed. Despite the desperate rush to get him to the hospital, Sajid's injuries proved fatal, and he passed away, leaving his family and community in shock and grief.

The rain that had started earlier that afternoon became a backdrop to this devastating incident, casting a pall over the Banavasi police station limits. Sajid’s body has been taken to the government hospital for a post-mortem examination, as the community grapples with the sudden and tragic loss of such a young life.

The tragic death of Sajid Ashfaque Ali is a poignant reminder of the unpredictability of nature and the fragile thread of life. His memory will linger in the hearts of those who knew and loved him, a young life taken too soon.

Bengaluru: The Congress on Sunday released its list of seven candidates for the biennial MLC elections on June 13. The elections were necessitated due to the retirement of 11 members on June 17.

As expected, the Congress has fielded Karnataka Science and Technology Minister N S Boseraju and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah.

The other candidates are Vasanth Kumar, K Govindraj, lvan D'Souza, Bilkis Bano and Jagdev Guttedar.

The party also announced Basanagouda Badarli for the forthcoming MLC byelection for a seat that fell vacant owing to the resignation of former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who joined the Congress briefly after he rebelled against the BJP when he was denied a ticket in the 2023 assembly election.

"The election dates to fill that post have not been announced yet but our party has declared him as our candidate whenever the election takes place," a Congress leader said.

Shettar contested the assembly election in 2023 on a Congress ticket and after his defeat, his new home rewarded him with an MLC seat.

Earlier this year, he went back to his parent organisation and is contesting the Lok Sabha election on a BJP ticket from Belgaum (Belagavi) constituency against Congress's Mrinal Hebbalkar, who is the son of Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar.

Bengaluru: Patients visiting government hospitals in Karnataka recently were shocked when they noticed that some drugs had labels of Animal Husbandry Veterinary Sciences (AHVS) but the department concerned has said it was only a logo related issue and that the medicines were indeed meant for human use.

The Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation Limited (KSMSCL) said there was an error in the 'logogram' design, but the product was of standard quality and 'human use only'.

As the typo led to panic among patients, KSMSCL Managing Director Chidananda Sadashiva Vatare said in a statement that the product permission copies were submitted and confirmed they were permitted to manufacture as per required medical standards and for human use only.

According to sources in KSMSCL, there were seven drugs which had the AHVS label. This included eye and nasal drops.

These drugs were supplied by a private firm with a total value of Rs 62.9 lakh and it reached the government warehouse on January 5, this year.

The drugs were Methyl Prednisolone injection, Carboxymethylcellulose Eye Drops, Oxymetazoline Pediatric (Nasal) Drops, Flurbiprofen Eye Drops IP, Sodium Chloride (Nasal) Drops, Timolol Maleate Drops and Oxymetazoline Hydrochloride (Nasal) Solution IP.

"The analytical test reports from NABL/government approved laboratories and in-house test reports of the products opined as the products referred above are of standard quality. The test reports from the private empanelled laboratories of KSMSCL have reported these products are of standard quality," Vatare said.

The products were supplied to all the warehouses in the state by the supplier by January 5, he said, adding the supplier requested KSMSCL on January 18 to accept the supplied products by masking the typo.

"It is to be noted that no changes were done in the label of the product information provided. Also, the logogram design was correct in one part of the product and only in another part was there a printing error in the logogram design which was masked, where instead of Health department it was typed as AHVS department."

"The supplier was also imposed a fine of one per cent on the purchase order value and all warehouses were instructed to distribute the products only after masking the error. The supplier was also warned not to repeat the mistake," he said.