Info not available on number of bodies dumped in Ganga during COVID-19 pandemic: Govt
New Delhi, Feb 7: Information is not available on the number of bodies estimated to have been dumped in the river Ganga during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government said on Monday.
Responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu said the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) sought from the state governments concerned a report on the bodies found floating in the river and the action taken or contemplated for ensuring proper handling, management and disposal of bodies for ensuring the protection of Ganga.
"The information regarding the number of COVID-19-related bodies estimated to have been dumped in the river Ganga is not available," he said in a written response.
He also said that Rs 126 crore have been spent under the communication and public Outreach head, which includes media and publicity under the Namami Gange Programme.
In a recent book, former NMCG director general Rajiv Ranjan Mishra had said that according to the reports of district magistrates and panchayat committees, the number of bodies dumped into the Ganga during the second wave of COVID-19 was no more than 300.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
