Karnataka: MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan's team helps cremate bodies of COVID-19 victims
Bengaluru: Karnataka Congress legislator Zameer Ahmed Khan is leading a team of 20 volunteers to ensure Corona victims are cremated as per their religious conventions and attended by family members.
His move was taken after witnessing situations of death due to Corona where family members were denied a chance to pay respects to their deceased relative or the body was not handed over to the family. If nobody assists in conducting the last rites of a Corona victim – regardless of the religion – Khan's team volunteers to help out.
The body of a woman who had died of Corona infection in Chamarajpet – which is Khan's constituency – was kept at a private hospital. Her body, however, was not claimed by any of her relatives. Khan paid the treatment fees to the hospital and oversaw the cremation of the body as per the woman's religion.
The incident led to the formation of the team in the city. Khan said that his close aides Ayub, Farooq, Bala, Murthy and Amir were among the 20 people in the team. The cremation of more than 120 people has been conducted since the imposition of lockdown from March 28 till now, he added.
The team members have earned the appreciation of the people by assisting in conducting the last rites, themselves wearing PPE as per government guidelines and taking other precautionary steps doing so. That they follow the convention of each victim's religion has been further lauded.
Ration supply to 40k families
“The human race is said to go through such turmoil once every century. In our times, it is the Corona attack. We should, therefore, do our best to help one another out. There is no point in doing anything after the time has lapsed,” Khan reminded.
Speaking to Vartha Bharati, the legislator said that he prayed that nobody dies of Corona attack. “I pray that even my enemy should not be in a situation where the family members do not even get to bid a final farewell to a deceased person,” he added.
Further, he said that the poor people and daily wage earners had to go without work during lockdown. “I have, therefore, distributed the ration kits given by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike to 40,000 families in my constituency. About 3,000 people were given 5 kg of vegetable packets each for about a month and a half. I also funded the provision of food and water for 14,000 people living in sealed down places,” he said.
Referring to the Ramdhan month, Khan said that he had distributed fruits among 5,000 people for Iftar daily. “I had also arranged for the Sehri and Iftar for people under quarantine, since our money should be used for the good of the people at the appropriate time,” the legislator stressed.
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AIITA welcomes Karnataka’s ban on obscene songs in school events
Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.
AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.
“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.
He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.
“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.
According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.
In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.
AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.
