Army, Navy rescue marooned people in Karnataka's flood-hit district
Bengaluru, Aug 17 : Indian Army troops and Navy divers joined the national and state disaster relief forces to rescue hundreds of people marooned in Karnataka's flood-hit Kodagu district, said an official statement on Friday.
"About 60 Dogra Regiment soldiers and 12 expert naval divers rescued 873 marooned people in the flood-hit district, where overnight heavy rains caused landslides and inundated low-lying areas at Makkanduru," said the statement from the Chief Minister's office.
Kodagu, about 250 km from Bengaluru, is one of the districts in the southern state worst hit by the south-west monsoon rains since June first week.
Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is visiting Kodagu on Saturday to assess the situation and review relief operations in the district, where landslides claimed four lives since Thursday.
"Kumaraswamy will visit the rain-hit areas in the district and review the rescue and relief operations with officials," said another official statement released by the Chief Minister's office on Friday night.
The Chief Minister also directed district in-charge Sa Ra Mahesh to rush relief materials to Kodagu from Mysuru.
The Army's engineering task force deployed 73 boats, equipment and rafts in rescuing the people and escorting them to safer places in the district.
About 60 members of the national and state disaster relief forces and 45 members of the civil defence joined the rescue and relief operations with boats and equipment in Madikeri in the hilly district.
"Though the Indian Air Force (IAF) aborted rescue mission due to inclement weather, it will fly M17 chopper from Mysuru on Saturday to rescue the remaining stranded and transport relief supplies," noted the statement.
About 200 personnel of the state fire service had rescued people in flood-hit towns and villages across the district with their boats and equipment.
"Telecom services, disrupted due to rains and strong winds uprooting poles and snapping phone lines, are being restored on priority. HAM operators have been deployed as back-up. Power lines are also being restored," said the statement.
The district administration has housed 573 persons in 17 relief camps.
Intra and inter-state bus and train services between Karnataka and flood-hit Kerala were suspended due to landslides and rainwater submerging the highways and roads in the ghat section.
State-run and private bus services from Mysuru and Chamarajanagar to Ooty and Coonoor hill stations in Tamil Nadu were suspended due to flooding and fallen trees blocking the routes in the ghat section.
According to the weather office, rain fury continued in the state's coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada, disrupting normal life, including vehicular movement of goods and people.
Schools and colleges will remain shut even on Saturday in the affected districts due to flooding and disruption of bus services.
The state's metrological department has warned of moderate to heavy rain in coastal, south interior and north interior areas of the state till Sunday.
A record 14.6 cm of rainfall was recorded at Madikeri, 11.5 cm at Virajpete, 10.4 cm at Sakleshpura, 10.3 cm at Sringeri, 9.3 cm at Supa, 9 cm at Sulya, 8.8 cm at Somwarpete and 8.6 cm at Belthangadi during the last 24 hours.
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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.
