Red alert sounded in seven districts of Karnataka
Bengaluru: A red alert has been sounded in seven districts of rain-ravaged Karnataka where one more death was reported on Sunday, taking the toll to 13.
According to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, there would be heavy rain for the next 24 hours in coastal areas, in the northern and in the interior parts of the south.
The red alert has been issued in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Kodagu and Shivamogga as they would get heavy rainfall.
As on Sunday, Cauvery and Krishna rivers were flowing above the danger mark, and the sluice gates of the dams were opened. Due to the release of water, many regions in the low-lying areas were inundated.
In the Cauvery basin, Krishnaraja Sagar Dam, Harangi, Hemavathi, and Kabini Dams were almost full.
In view of the swollen Cauvery river, the Mandya district administration put barricades near the Sri Nimishamba Temple near Ganjam in Srirangapatna Taluk to ensure the safety of public in general and pilgrims and tourists in particular.
"The public is not allowed to venture into the Cauvery River as a precautionary measure," read a statement issued by the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Mandya District Dr M V Venkatesh.
In Kodagu, the situation remained grim due to a heavy downpour and incidents of landslides were reported.
Congress state president D K Shivakumar, on a two-day tour of Kodagu from Saturday, visited many relief camps and spoke to the people there. Also, he inspected a few places which suffered severe damages due to landslides. Later, Shivakumar issued a statement saying the district has been suffering rain-related damages and all political parties should come to the aid of the people.
In Belagavi, reports emerged that youth got swept away in the rain.
In Mysuru, the Hebbal lake was overflowing.
Eighty relief camps have been set up to house 1,600 people as 278 houses have been fully damaged and 2,140 partially damaged, according to the Disaster Monitoring Centre.
A total of 23 animals have perished in the rains which destroyed 31,541 hectares of crops while inundating 35,000 hectares of horticultural crops. The State government has released Rs 50 crore as an initial amount to carry out relief and rehabilitation work.
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MediaOne TV Facebook page restored after block linked to ‘government request’
Kochi: The official Facebook page of Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV has been restored after being blocked without prior notice, the broadcaster said on Wednesday.
The channel was quoted by Maktoob as saying that the restriction was lifted automatically, with Meta Platforms informing it that the action had been taken following a “government request” which has now expired or been reversed.
The development came shortly after the channel approached the Kerala High Court challenging the blocking of its page, terming it arbitrary and in violation of legal provisions and judicial precedents. The High Court had issued notice to Meta via email hours before the restriction was withdrawn.
In its petition, the channel said access to its Facebook page had been restricted for users in India without citing any specific content or alleged violation. It contended that while individual posts may be taken down under applicable a rule, blocking an entire page goes beyond the scope of such measures.
The incident followed an earlier action taken against the channel in 2022, when the Ministry of Information and transmitting prohibited it from transmitting. It cited national security concerns regarding the Ministry of Home Affairs' refusal of security clearance.
The Supreme Court of India in April 2023 set aside the ban, observing that national security claims cannot be made without substantive basis and that criticism of government policies does not render a media outlet anti-national.
