845 houses, 123 km road damaged in Kodagu: CM Kumaraswamy
Disaster claims 12 lives
Bengaluru, August 20: Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that the natural disaster has literally devastated the Kodagu district where 12 persons were died and 845 houses were completely damaged in the floods and landslides.
Speaking to reporters at his Home Office Krishna here on Monday, the Chief Minister said that he conducted aerial survey for two days in Kodagu where landslidings were occurred in many places. Total 773 houses were partially damaged. Around 123 km roads, 58 bridges, 278 government buildings and 3,800 electric poles were damaged in the incident. The normal life was affected severely. So far, 4,320 people were rescued. As the rain was subsidized since Sunday evening, relief works and rescue operations were intensified, he said.
Total 1,725 specially trained experts from district administration, police department, State Reserve Police Force, Army, Air Force, Navy, NDRF, Revenue Department, NCC, Citizens Protection Group, Home Guards and others have been working on war footing for round-the-clock. M-17 helicopter of Indian Air Force has been working from Harangi reservoir. Every day, the Chief Secretary of the Government and other senior officers of the departments have been overseeing the situation and providing the updates, he said.
The President, Prime Minister and Defence Minister have spoken to him over telephone and got the details about the situation. They have provided required help and promised further assistance. Today afternoon, the Chief Secretary held a video conference with the deputy commissioners of Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts and directed them to take all possible measures. The normal life in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts was limping to normalcy. Though the rain was subsidized in Kodagu, the normal life was gone out of control. Taking relief measures to rebuild the entire district was a real challenge to the state government now, the CM said.
District Minister, district secretary, DGP Fire Brigade, two ADGPs, and two additional chief secretaries have camped in the district and overseeing the relief works. Some of the district level officers of neighbouring Mysuru and Dakshina Kannada districts have been working in Kodagu. Probationary IAS officers working in Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts were deputed to Kodagu, he said.
Total 41 relief centres were opened in Kodagu and nine centres in Dakshina Kannada district. Total 6,620 distressed people were given shelter in those centres where milk and drinking water was made available. The relief materials being supplied from other places were collected in the APMC yard and distributing through gram panchayats, he said.
The government has deputed five special medical teams and 10 revenue officers teams for the relief works. Total 60 JCB machines and 20 Bolero vehicles were pressed into action. Within next ten days, temporary aluminum sheds would be put up for the people, for which the place is being finalized, he said.
Three extensions in Kushalnagar were submerged and a technical team from BBMP has been to Kodagu to pump the water out of the extension. In order to contain the possible outbreak of contagious diseases after the flood situation, the government has already constituted medical and non-medical teams and special units of the Health department and those teams would work in the district.
Under the MNREGS, the local labourers at Madikeri, Kushalnagar, Suntikoppa, Somwarpet and other towns would be provided jobs of removing the debris and waste generated from the flood. As the books and uniforms supplied to schools and colleges in the district were damaged, fresh sets of textbooks and uniforms would be provided to the students, he said.
He has also directed the authorities to give Rs 3,800 to each family of 5,800 distressed people sheltered in relief camps. He also directed the Food and Civil Supplies department and the district administration to start 10 mobile units to provide 10 kg of rice, one kg of sugar, one kg of tur dal, five litre kerosene and five litre of palm oil to the door-steps of 50,000 families in the district, he added.
The PWD authorities have been trying to remove the mud covered on the Bhagamandala-Napoklu-Ayyangeri, and Sullia-Madikeri linking roads. KPTCL and CHESCOM have constituted special teams to restore the power connectivity in rural and urban areas as early as possible. For school children, it was directed to take special classes to cover the portions. The transfer of officials was suspended in the district and vacant posts would be filled immediately, he said.
IAS officers would be entrusted the responsibility of preparing the list of loss in each taluk and oversee the construction of houses, he said.
For donations
The donors who want to donate for the flood victims, could contribute to the ‘Chief Minister’s Relief Fund’ account. Account Name: Chief Minister’s Relief Fund Natural Disaster-2018, Bank: State Bank of India, Branch: Vidhana Soudha, A/c: 37887098605, IFSC Code: SBIN0040277, MICR No: 560002419. The donations would have Income Tax relaxation under Income Tax Act 80-G.
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Netanyahu recommends his Cabinet approve Hezbollah cease-fire proposal
Beirut, Nov 26: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would recommend his cabinet adopt a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah, as Israeli warplanes struck across Lebanon, killing at least 23 people.
The Israeli military also issued a flurry of evacuation warnings — a sign it was aiming to inflict punishment on Hezbollah down to the final moments before any ceasefire takes hold. For the first time in the conflict, Israeli ground troops reached parts of Lebanon's Litani River, a focal point of the emerging deal.
In a televised statement, Netanyahu said he would present the ceasefire to Cabinet ministers later on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting.
Netanyahu said the vote was expected later Tuesday. It was not immediately clear when the ceasefire would go into effect, and the exact terms of the deal were not released. The deal does not affect Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, which shows no signs of ending.
The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that previously have not been targeted. The warnings, coupled with fear that Israel was ratcheting up attacks before a ceasefire, sent residents fleeing. Traffic was gridlocked, and some cars had mattresses tied to them. Dozens of people, some wearing their pajamas, gathered in a central square, huddling under blankets or standing around fires as Israeli drones buzzed loudly overhead.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, kept up its rocket fire, triggering air raid sirens across northern Israel.
Lebanese officials have said Hezbollah also supports the deal. If approved by all sides, the deal would be a major step toward ending the Israel-Hezbollah war that has inflamed tensions across the region and raised fears of an even wider conflict between Israel and Hezbollah's patron, Iran.
The deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. Thousands of Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor all sides' compliance.
But implementation remains a major question mark. Israel has demanded the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations. Lebanese officials have rejected writing that into the proposal. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz insisted on Tuesday that the military would strike Hezbollah if the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, doesn't provide “effective enforcement” of the deal.
“If you don't act, we will act, and with great force,” Katz said, speaking with UN special envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Tuesday that Israel's security concerns had been addressed in the deal also brokered by France.
“There is not an excuse for not implementing a ceasefire. Otherwise, Lebanon will fall apart,” Borrell told reporters in Italy on the sidelines of a Group of Seven meeting. He said France would participate on the ceasefire implementation committee at Lebanon's request.
Bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs continues
Even as Israeli, US, Lebanese and international officials have expressed growing optimism over a ceasefire, Israel has continued its campaign in Lebanon, which it says aims to cripple Hezbollah's military capabilities.
An Israeli strike on Tuesday levelled a residential building in the central Beirut district of Basta — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near the city's downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
Three people were killed in a separate strike in Beirut and three in a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. Lebanese state media said another 10 people were killed in the eastern Baalbek province. Israel says it targets Hezbollah fighters and their infrastructure.
Earlier, Israeli jets struck at least six buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs. One strike slammed near the country's only airport, sending plumes of smoke into the sky. The airport has continued to function despite its location on the Mediterranean coast next to the densely populated suburbs where many of Hezbollah's operations are based.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in the suburbs, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where UNIFIL is headquartered.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told The Associated Press that peacekeepers will not evacuate.
Other strikes hit in the southern city of Tyre, where the Israeli military said it killed a local Hezbollah commander.
The Israeli military also said its ground troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani River, a few kilometres from the Israeli border.
Previous ceasefire hopes were dashed
Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the strongest Iranian-backed force in the region, would likely significantly calm regional tensions that have led to fears of a direct, all-out war between Israel and Iran. It's not clear how the ceasefire will affect the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah had long insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it dropped that condition.
Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have been exchanging barrages ever since.
Israel escalated its campaign of bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes.
More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members.
Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country's north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon.
After previous hopes for a ceasefire were dashed, U.S. officials cautioned that negotiations were not yet complete and noted there could be last-minute hitches that delay or destroy an agreement.
“Nothing is done until everything is done,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
While the ceasefire proposal is expected to be approved if Netanyahu brings it to a vote in his security Cabinet, one hard-line member, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he would oppose it. He said on X that a deal with Lebanon would be a “big mistake” and a “missed historic opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah.”
