Heavy rains wreak havoc in Udupi district
Two injured after lightning strikes
Standing crops of banana, areca damaged
Udupi, May 22: Heavy rains that lashed in almost all the district except Karkala and Hebri taluks, with gusty wind and thunderbolt on the wee hours of Tuesday, wreaked havoc in the district. One person was killed and another injured in the lightning, while standing crops in Byndoor, Kundapura, Brahmavar and Udupi taluks were damaged.
The rains started in the midnight lasted for hours. Because of the heavy rains with gusty wind, the banana plantation and other crops in several acres in Kundapur and Byndoor taluks were damaged. As the lightning struck four to five houses, a woman in Herga village and a boy at Kodangala village sustained injuries and admitted to a hospital. However, one cow and a dog died after lightning struck them at Haluvalli in Karje gram panchayat limits.
It is said that the coastal Karnataka is receiving heavy rains because of the depression in Arabian Sea since Monday midnight and continued till Tuesday morning. Many houses were damaged as the trees were uprooted on some houses in Kundapur and Byndoor taluks.
Kundapur
A house belonging to Sham near Kodi at Kasaba hobli was partially damaged when a coconut tree fell on it, incurring a loss of Rs 50,000. A cement roof of the house of Jalaja Shedti in Yeyyadi-Matyadi was damaged due to heavy wind and the damage is estimated at Rs 25,000.
In Gopadi, three houses belonging to Jaya, Rukku of Molahalli and Raghuram Kanchan were damaged and together estimated the loss of Rs 43000.
Bijadi
Several houses in Bijadi were damaged in the rains. Houses belonging to Srinivasa Ganiga, Jyoti Poojary, Chandu and others were damaged either due to felling of trees or landsliding. In Kollur, a house was completely damaged when a tree fell on it and the loss was estimated at Rs 80,000, according to official sources.
Byndoor taluk
The roof of the house of Raviraj Shetty of Kudrukod in Navunda village was damaged along with water tank, incurring a loss of Rs 35,000. In the same village, the house of Sanjeev Shetty was also damaged when a tree fell on it and the damage is estimated at Rs 24,000 and Yadtare Nagesh Bhandary house was also damaged incurring a loss of Rs 15,000.
In the same way, the house of Kuttappan of Udayanagar in Mudhur was also damaged when a tree fell on it and the loss was estimated at Rs 80,000. The house of Jagannath Shetty of Hirebettu village near Hiriyadka was also damaged partially causing a loss of Rs 50,000.
Banana crop damaged
Because of heavy rains, banana plantations and other crops were damaged in Kundapur taluk. As the banana plantation of Manju Madivala of Hardalli Mandalli in the taluk, a loss was estimated at Rs 80000. More than 500 banana plants in the plantation of Ramanand Sherigar of Byndoor were completely uprooted causing a loss of over Rs 2 lakh. In the same way, more than 200 banana plants of Sridhar Ganiga of Teggarse were also damaged causing a loss of over Rs 1 lakh.
Rain details
In the last 24 hours, the district has received a good rainfall. The highest of 28.9 mm rain was recorded in Udupi, followed by Kundapur 15.5 mm and Karkala 6.7 mm rainfall.
Woman, boy injured
As lightning also struck in the region along with heavy rains and wind, a woman and a boy who were sustained injuries, were admitted to hospitals. One cow and a dog were killed. Sugandi Sherigarti (35), daughter of Appi Sherigarti of Kallagudde sustained severe burn injuries on her neck and back and admitted Manipal KMC hospital. When the lightning struck at around 3.30 am on Tuesday, Sugandi Sherigarti, her sister Sukanya Sherigarti and Krishna Sherigar who were sleeping were unconscious. However, Sugandi is recuperating. The intensity of the lightning was so much that gold chain of Sugandi was melted. Blankets and clothes were burnt. Mirror was damaged, wall developed cracks and the electric wires were also melted in the lightning.
When the house of Sananda Nayak of Kodangala was struck with lightning, his son Sandesh (14) sustained injuries and he was admitted to Udupi government hospital. The electronic goods and electric materials of Dinesh Shetty of Vakpadi in the taluk were also damaged.
Because of the lightning, power connection and electronic materials of Bhaskar Shetty of Haluvalli near Brahmavar were damaged. A cow and a dog were also died in the incident.
Udupi MLA Raghupathi Bhat visited the house of Bhaskar Shetty and assured of getting the compensation from the government.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
None of Adani portfolio companies subject to any legal case: Group CFO on promoter indictment in US
New Delhi, Nov 23: None of Adani group portfolio companies, comprising 11 listed firms, have been accused of any wrongdoing, conglomerate's CFO Jugeshinder Robbie Singh said on founder and chairman Gautam Adani's indictment on bribery charges in the US.
In a post on X, Singh said the group would make a detailed comment on the US indictment once it gets counsel approvals.
Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, allegedly agreed to pay about USD 265 million in bribes to Indian government officials between approximately 2020 and 2024 to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts on terms that were expected to yield USD 2 billion of profit over 20 years, according to an indictment unsealed in a New York court on Wednesday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the US has also charged Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd and Cyril Cabanes, an executive of Azure Power Global, for "conduct arising out of a massive bribery scheme".
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing," Singh said.
He hastened to add that no court has ruled on the indictment, and as outlined by lawyers of the US Department of Justice, these are "allegations and the accused have a presumption of innocence".
The CFO, who was the first line of defence when US short-seller Hindenburg Research had accused the ports-to-power conglomerate of fraud in January 2023, said the group became aware of the "specificity" of the US indictment against founder and chairman Gautam Adani two days ago.
"We were aware that something is afoot (and in February 2024 144a offering circular in Risk Factors we disclosed as such. This was the first public issuance of any of our portfolio companies or their subsidiaries or joint venture companies after our annual results of 31st March 2023)," he said.
He, however, did not state what the company had disclosed in February 2024.
Adani Group, he said, has a portfolio of 11 public companies and "none are subject to indictment (i.e. defendants in any legal proceedings in the recent DOJ lawyer filings to a court in NYC)".
"None of the issuers (i.e. companies in our portfolio or specific issuers that are subsidiaries of the public companies) are accused of any wrongdoing in the said legal filing," he said.
The indictment "relates to one contract of Adani Green, which is roughly 10 per cent of overall business of Adani Green (there is a lot more precise and comprehensive detail of this which we will elaborate in an appropriate forum)," he said.
The statement comes two days after Gautam Adani was charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay USD 265 million (about RS 2,200 crore) bribes to Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts. The conglomerate has denied the allegations, calling them baseless, and announced plans to seek legal recourse.
The Adani Family has 11 listed entities on the Indian stock exchanges - flagship incubator Adani Enterprises Ltd, electricity producer Adani Power Ltd, ports company Adani Ports & SEZ, power transmission firm Adani Energy Solutions Limited, renewable arm Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), city gas distributor Adani Total Gas Ltd, commodities firm Adani Wilmar Ltd, media firm New Delhi Television Ltd and cement companies Ambuja Cements Limited, ACC Ltd, and Sanghi Industries Ltd.
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing (Please note that no court has ruled on this and as outlined by lawyers of DOJ these are 'allegations and accused have a presumption of innocence'). We will make a more detailed comment once we get counsel approvals to discuss what we can in public on a matter that is sub-judice," he added.
