Puri (PTI): At least three persons were killed and around 50 others injured in a stampede that took place near Shree Gundicha Temple in Odisha’s Puri on Sunday, a senior official said.
The incident took place around 4 am when hundreds of devotees gathered near the temple, Puri District Collector Siddharth S Swain said.
The injured have been admitted to a nearby hospital, and the condition of six people is critical, he said.
The deceased were identified as Basanti Sahu from Bolagarh, and Premakant Mohanty and Pravati Das from Balipatna.
The bodies have been sent for postmortem and an investigation is underway.
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Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Wednesday said the state government is working to appoint an agency to manage clean drinking water units in rural areas.
The state Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister was responding to a question by Hirekerur MLA U B Banakar in the legislative assembly.
"In the rural areas of the state, many clean drinking water units have been set up under corporate social responsibility (CSR) grants, including contributions by MLAs and MPs, and handed over to gram panchayats. After the maintenance period, problems have arisen in keeping these units operational," Priyank said.
He added that a proposal has been made to award a maintenance contract to one of the country’s reputed drinking water unit manufacturing companies, but so far, no companies have come forward to take up the work.
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"The government is continuing its efforts and will resolve this problem soon," he said.
On a query regarding fluoride content in water, the minister said water quality testing is being conducted monthly in all zilla panchayats.
"Laboratories have been opened for this purpose. Around 6.5 lakh water samples have been tested across the state, and water testing kits have been provided to villages," he added.
