Rain continues in parts of Karnataka; flood situation eases in coastal region

News Network
September 22, 2020

Bengaluru/Udupi, Sept 22: Even though rains continued, the flood situation eased up in coastal, southern and central districts on Tuesday disrupting normal life, an official said.

Kodagu, Shivamogga, Hassan and Chikkamagaluru received 74 mm of rainfall during the last seven days against the normal of 39 mm for the same period, according to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).

The four districts have received 228 mm of rains for the period of September 1 to 20 against the normal of 114 mm for the same period.

Bhagamandala and surrounding regions in Kodagu – the catchment area for the Cauvery – continued to be battered by heavy rain as a result of which the volume of water in the river increased. The district received 64.19 mm of rainfall for the 24 hour period as against 66.75 mm of rain received on Sunday. Bhagamandala that bore the brunt of nature’s fury last month resulting in a major landslip, continued to receive rains for the third consecutive day.

The district administration was on its toes for the last 48 hours clearing roads blocked by fallen trees and uprooted electricity poles.

The outflow of water from the Harangi reservoir rose to the rate of 11,854 cusecs. The rate of inflow into the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) reservoir in the downstream region also increased during the last 48 hours. The water level in the dam was at 124.52 feet against the full reservoir level (FRL) of 124.8 feet. The outflow was increased to 50,000 cusecs from 40,000 cusecs on Tuesday.

Similarly, the inflow into the Kabini reservoir in HD Kote in Mysuru district was at the rate of 28,906 cusecs and the outflow at 35,000 cusecs. The water level in the reservoir was 2283.09 feet against the FRL of 2,284 feet.

Meanwhile, life in parts of the Malnad region continued to be hit by heavy rains. Landslips have occurred at Charmadi Ghat, where travellers had a tough time negotiating deep curves. Continuous rainfall also formed many waterfalls along Charmadi Ghat, prompting travellers to take a break for photos. Rivers are flowing in spate and the inflow at the reservoir has been on the rise.

The rain continued to lash different parts of Chikkamagaluru on Tuesday. The gusty wind uprooted several trees in the Malnad area.

A huge tree, which was uprooted, fell on the road at Kelagooru near Kottigehara blocking the vehicular movement. In Mathikatte, the roof of a house was damaged after a tree fell on it.

Meanwhile, there was a brief respite in the heavy rains that struck Udupi district. But floodwater has still not completely receded in many parts of the district and the full picture of the damages is yet to be known. The Udupi district administration on Monday ordered the temporary closure of Mala-Kudremukh Ghat (NH 169) connecting Karkala with Sringeri/Kudremukh for two days.

A temporary magisterial order issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Udupi Jagadeesh said the ghat section had been witnessing landslips and tree falling since Saturday night following heavy rains. the DC said, adding no one was injured.

Since rain was continuing to pour and there was every chance of fresh landslips and tree falls, the road would be closed till Tuesday midnight, he said.

Meanwhile, district administration estimated suffered loses of more than Rs 100 crores in 2 days.

The district administration has started taking action against spreading of infectious diseases in flood-affected areas.

In many parts of Udupi district, it started raining again from Monday evening.

In Dakshina Kannada district, 32 houses and nearly 199.2 hectares of agricultural land were damaged.

The meteorological department has forecasted heavy rainfall over the next four days. Red, Orange and Yellow alert has been issued for September 22, 23 and 24 respectively in all the three coastal districts.

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News Network
May 7,2024

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Bengaluru: JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy has claimed that 25,000 pen drives with videos of women being sexually abused allegedly by his nephew, Lok Sabha election candidate Prajwal Revanna, were distributed before polls, and accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar of a conspiracy.

The former chief minister also sought to discredit the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Congress government on April 28 to probe the charges against Prajwal of sexually abusing several women after videos allegedly involving him started making the rounds on social media.

"It is not a Special Investigation Team but 'Siddaramaiah Investigation Team' and 'Shivakumar Investigation Team'," the JD(S) second-in-command, who is the son of party supremo and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, said.

MLA H D Revanna and his son and Hassan MP Prajwal have been booked for allegedly molesting their cook. In another case, Revanna has been booked and arrested for allegedly kidnapping a woman who was allegedly sexually assaulted by Prajwal. A case of rape has also been registered against Prajwal.

Addressing a press conference here, Kumaraswamy said the pen drives were circulated by police officers who were "threatened to do it".

“It (pen drive carrying videos) was released in Bengaluru Rural constituency (where the Congress candidate in the Lok Sabha elections is D K Suresh, who is the brother of Shivakumar). This was an April 21 development. On April 22, Poornachandra, our polling agent, gave a complaint to the District Deputy Commissioner, who is the Returning Officer,” the JD(S) leader said.

“Poornachandra received a message at 8 pm on April 21 asking people to 'follow a WhatsApp channel to see Prajwal Revanna’s sleaze video'. There was a message on this WhatsApp channel, 'Countdown for the release of Prajwal’s sleaze videos'," Kumaraswamy further said.

According to Kumaraswamy, one Naveen Gowda had sent the message about the "countdown".

In his complaint to the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police of Hassan district, Poornachandra has named five people including Naveen Gowda, Karthik Gowda (Revanna’s driver), Chethan and Puttaraju alias Putty, he said.

It has been more than a fortnight since the complaint made on April 21 but no action has been taken against these five people, Kumaraswamy said and demanded that they should first be arrested for "mortgaging the modesty" of women in the videos.

Kumaraswamy alleged that 25,000 pen drives were distributed in the entire state, and cited a report in a regional daily to support his claim.

“My question here is why no action was taken. If someone posts something on social media, immediately houses are searched and the person is made to sit in the police station. Why no action was taken against these five people despite a complaint?” he asked.

"Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had confidently said that all the three JD(S) candidates in the Lok Sabha elections will be defeated," Kumaraswamy said, adding, "It raises doubts about the involvement of many people."

On April 25, Karnataka State Commission for Women Chairperson Nagalakshmi Chowdhary wrote to Siddaramaiah demanding an SIT probe into the tapes where Prajwal is allegedly seen sexually abusing several women. The same night, the CM gave his nod and ordered the formation of a SIT, Kumaraswamy said.

“In that letter, Nagalakshmi Chowdhary did not mention the name of Prajwal or Revanna but the chief minister called it ‘Prajwal Revanna’s explicit videos’ in his post on X when he announced the formation of SIT. This shows how the conspiracy was hatched,” the JD(S) leader claimed.

He also alleged that the first complaint "framing" his brother H D Revanna and nephew Prajwal was typed on a computer in Bengaluru and was sent to Holenarasipura, which is represented in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly by Revanna, on April 28.

“It’s not a Special Investigation Team but there are two teams within it – one is ‘Siddaramaiah Investigation Team’ and another one is ‘Shivakumar Investigation Team’,” he charged.

He said the ‘convenor’ of the 'pen drive story', Karthik Gowda should be traced first and brought before the people.

“Going through the conspiracies, one can doubt the intention behind the investigation because more than protecting the women victims, you are limiting the scope of the probe only to defame people,” Kumaraswamy further alleged.

He underlined that he was not trying to protect anyone. “I have said that in this case I will not protect anyone doing wrong. Stringent punishment should be given to the person involved in this crime as per the law of land."

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News Network
May 6,2024

Mangaluru, May 6: A five-year-old girl from Arendur village of Siddapura taluk of Uttara Kannada district died of Kyasanur Forest Disease (monkey fever) recently.

As her health deteriorated, she was admitted to the KMC Hospital in Mangaluru, where she failed to respond to the treatment and died on Friday night.

It is learned that the KFD is slowly spreading to the newer areas of coastal and malnad areas of Karnataka

According to officials, KFD spreads due to bites of ticks that generally survive on monkeys. This tick bites humans which causes the infection. Humans also contract the disease by coming in contact with cattle bitten by ticks.

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News Network
May 18,2024

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Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and other state ministers on Saturday rubbished allegations about their role in the circulation of pen drives containing explicit videos involving Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna.

BJP leader and advocate G Devaraje Gowda, who is in custody after being arrested in a sexual abuse case and is also facing charges of video leak, on Friday alleged that Shivakumar and four other ministers are behind the circulation of the pen drives and was being fixed in false cases as he did not agree to be part of their plan.

He has even alleged that he was offered Rs 100 crore by Shivakumar to "bring a bad name" to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and to tarnish the image of JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy in Prajwal Revanna's obscene video case.

Speaking to reporters here, Shivakumar said, "Better, let him (Gowda) file a case before Lokayukta or any other agency. I think he has some problems mentally. I'm very sorry, the national and state media shouldn't have picked up such baseless allegations. A person who is in jail, how can he make such allegations? All these are baseless. I don't want to comment." 

Asked if he will be filing any defamation case against Gowda, he said, "I don't want to make any comment or speak on a person who is mentally sick. I appeal to his party people to get him a good treatment." Shivakumar also asserted that his government's commitment to get justice for women victims of the sexual abuse case, and expressed confidence about the Special Investigation Team's (SIT) ongoing probe.

While being taken from court in Hassan, Gowda on Friday spoke to media and alleged that Shivakumar is behind pen drive case, and a team of four Ministers -- N Chaluvarayaswamy, Krishna Byre Gowda, Priyank Kharge and another minister -- was formed to handle this, with an intention to bring bad name to BJP, PM Modi and Kumaraswamy.

He said Shivakumar had asked him to say that Kumaraswamy is behind the distribution of pen drives, but as he did not agree to it, he is being fixed in false cases.

Minister Priyank Kharge said Gowda has alleged that three responsible ministers in the state government were part of a team and that there was a conspiracy. "We will discuss whatever legal course, we will take it." 

"Devaraje Gowda might be doing this to defame Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah. If he had a Rs 100 crore offer, he should have told Amit Shah (Union Home Minister) and get it investigated. He could have got CBI, ED, or IT raids done. Why didn't he do it? Claims have been made that he (Gowda) was sent Rs 5 crore as advance at a club, let them get CCTV footage and see who were all there," Kharge said.

While speaking to reporters here, he further said Gowda is a lawyer. When he was deposed before the Judge he should have told about the documents he has and should have presented to the court.

Minister Chaluvarayaswamy said allegations about the role of Shivakumar and a team of ministers being formed to oversee the circulation of pen drives are 'baseless', and he questioned Gowda's morality to make such accusations.

"If Gowda proves that Chaluvarayaswamy, Priyank Kharge and Krishna Byre Gowda had held a meeting on this case and we as a team were given responsibility and we were involved in this case, I will apologise," he said and alleged that Gowda was being used to mislead and deviate from the main case of sexual abuse.

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