Joint operations to find 3 more missing victims of Ankola landslide continue: Centre tells K'taka HC
Bengaluru: The Central government has informed the Karnataka High Court that the bodies of seven people have been recovered, of the 10 people who went missing after a major landslide on the National Highway 66 at Ankola in Uttara Kannada district on July 16, following intense rainfall, and also stated that the joint operations in the area are still on, to find the three others.
Deputy Solicitor General H Shanthi Bhushan, who filed a status report before the High Court, said that, in response to a request by the district administration authority on July 17, the Indian Navy had deployed two IN diving teams on July 19 to work in coordination with the NDRF team to locate an LPG tanker. The diving teams were equipped with high resolution sonar to locate another truck and the persons missing after the mishap. In addition, a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) team of the Indian Army was deployed for the work on July 21, the HC was told.
The status report was submitted with the petition filed by two advocates, Siji Malayil and Subhash Chandran KR, seeking deployment of the Indian Army personnel for the rescue operations.
The Supreme Court, in its order on July 22, rejected the petition under Article 32 of the Constitution, although it gave liberty to the petitioner to approach the Karnataka High Court and urge for immediate listing of the matter.
The residents of Ankola have said that at least one truck and three cars, which were affected by the landslide, are still under the load of mud that collapsed on the vehicles. On the first four days of rescue operations, however, the local authorities only focused on clearing the path with limited manpower and equipment and without considering the seriousness of the situation, they added.
The petition filed in the High Court states that the inactions of the Karnataka government and the concerned police officers to speed-up the operations had deeply frustrated the petitioners.
They sought a direction to the Karnataka government as well as the Central government for an expedition in the operation work to clear the entire debris and locate the stranded human beings and vehicles using scientific methods.
The next hearing of the case in the Karnataka High Court is scheduled for Wednesday, July 24.
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Sringeri postal ballot recount: Votes tampered with, alleges D.K. Shivakumar
Hospet: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Sunday alleged large-scale tampering of postal ballots in the Sringeri constituency.
Speaking to the media near the Tungabhadra Dam, he said, “A large-scale crime has taken place in Sringeri. Tampering has been done using officials. More than 200 ballot papers have been tampered with.”
He further alleged that postal ballots were manipulated despite signatures being recorded during counting, calling it a “shame for the country.”
“They have tampered with the votes of our MLAs. Similar tampering has taken place in Jayanagar too. This is an insult to democracy. There should be a thorough investigation into this. The law will take its course. We will go to court,” he said.
