4,320 rescued in Kodagu; rescue work in final phase
Kodagu (Karnataka), Aug 20 : About 4,320 marooned people have been rescued till Monday morning in flood-hit Kodagu district in Karnataka as the rescue work entered its final stage in search of nearly 50 persons reportedly missing or stranded, an official said.
"The rescue work has entered its final stage. The 4,320 who have been rescued have been shifted to 41 relief camps in the district," a Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority official told IANS.
Teams from the Indian Army and Navy along with state officials were screening the villages and towns to rescue anyone still stranded, he added.
The district administration along with the rescue teams are also on the lookout for about 50 persons reportedly missing in the district.
Cut off by landslides and damaged roads, the coffee-growing district, located in the Western Ghats, has been the worst affected in the state due to southwest monsoon since June first week.
The state's emergency operation centre did not get any distress call on Monday, said the official who did not wish to be named.
The unabated rains, leading to flooding and landslips, have claimed eight lives in the district, according to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's office.
About 50 Dogra Regiment soldiers, 12 naval divers, 62 officials from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), 750 fire service officials and Home Guards with boats and hundreds of volunteers have been carrying out relief work.
The Air Force is using M-17 helicopters to airlift the marooned. In all, 1,194 specialised rescuers from the state and central agencies are involved in the drive.
With several relief camps sheltering more people than they can accommodate, the district administration on Monday asked volunteers, NGOs in the state to donate relief materials including clothing, raincoats, kitchen utensils and first aid equipment among other things.
The state-run Karnataka State Road Transport Corp (KSRTC) has resumed all its intra-state bus services towards Madikeri in Kodagu district and flood-hit Kerala.
The bus services were suspended due to flooding and damaged roads due to landslides.
About 123 km of roads are estimated to be damaged due to the rains, while more than 800 homes have been destroyed. Most of the district's arterial roads have been damaged in landslides.
Over the past 24 hours, Kodagu district received an average of 6.1 cm of rainfall, while few regions received a maximum rainfall of up to 10.3 cm, according to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts moderate to heavy rains to continue across coastal districts of Udupi, Uttara Kannada and Dakshina Kannada till Wednesday.
The heavy rains in coastal district of Dakshina Kannada have claimed one life so far, forcing nearly 800 people to shelter in temporary shelters.
The Met office predicts light to moderate rains in south interior districts, including Kodagu, over the next two days.
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Disqualification row: SC unhappy over Telangana CM's statement on bye-elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed its displeasure over Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy's statement in the assembly that there would be no bye-elections, and said he was expected to exercise "some degree of restraint".
"Did we commit a mistake by letting him go at that time and not taking an action for contempt?" a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih asked.
The top court was perhaps referring to a separate matter in which it had last year disapproved of Reddy's comments on the top court granting bail to rival BRS leader K Kavitha in cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
The apex court's observations came during the arguments on the pleas raising the issue of alleged delay by the Telangana Assembly speaker in deciding on petitions seeking disqualification of 10 BRS MLAs who had defected to the Congress.
The bench reserved its verdict in the matter.
During the arguments, the issue over Reddy's recent statement in the assembly cropped up before the bench.
"Mr Singhvi, having experience of earlier occasion, was the chief minister not expected to at least exercise some degree of restraint?" Justice Gavai asked senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who was appearing for the assembly speaker.
Justice Gavai said the court was not bothered about statements of politicians.
"We exercise self-restraint. We respect the other two wings of the democracy. Same is expected of the other two wings also," he said.
Senior advocate C A Sundaram, representing the petitioner and BRS leader Padi Kaushik Reddy, referred to the transcripts of the chief minister's statement, calling it shocking.
A BRS MLA, the counsel said, had said in the assembly that this should not be raked up as the matter was pending before the apex court but the chief minister still made the statement.
Sundaram quoted the chief minister's statement as saying, "Mr speaker, I am telling on your behalf to everyone present in the assembly that they need not worry about any bye-elections in future. No Bye-elections will come".
Sundaram said when the chief minister made the statement, the speaker did not say anything.
During the hearing, the bench asked what would be the "reasonable period" for a speaker to decide on the disqualification petitions.
It asked whether such applications for disqualification "should be permitted to die its natural death and the Tenth Schedule be thrown in the dustbin?".
The Tenth Schedule of the Constitution deals with provisions on disqualification on the ground of defection.
Sundaram requested the bench to put a time limit for deciding the disqualification petitions, referring to it as an "extraordinary situation".
Reddy had allegedly said in the assembly on March 26 that there would be no bye-elections even if BRS members switched sides.
"If this is said on the floor of the house, your chief minister is making a mockery of the Tenth Schedule," the bench said on April 2.
The apex court had also asked the speaker why he took about 10 months to issue notices on the petitions for the disqualification of BRS MLAs who defected to the Congress.
While one of the pleas in the apex court has challenged the November 2024 order of the Telangana High Court in a matter concerning petitions seeking the disqualification of three BRS MLAs, another petition relates to the remaining seven legislators who defected.
A division bench of the high court in November last year said the Assembly speaker must decide the disqualification petitions against the three MLAs within a "reasonable time".
The division bench's verdict came on the appeals against the September 9, 2024, order of a single judge.
The single judge had directed the secretary of the Telangana Assembly to place the petition seeking the disqualifications before the speaker for fixing a schedule of hearing within four weeks.
On March 4, the apex court sought responses from the Telangana government and others on the pleas, saying a timely decision was the key and there could not be a case of "operation successful but patient is dead".
It had also sought the responses of MLAs Danam Nagender, Venkata Rao Tellam and Kadiyam Srihari in the matter.
