Asst Commissioner to hoist national flag at Chamarajpet Idgah Maidan on Aug 15
Bengaluru, Aug 11: The Karnataka government on Thursday said a Revenue Department official of the rank of Assistant Commissioner will be hoisting the tricolour at Chamarajpet 'Idgah Maidan' here on August 15.
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city civic body, had recently dismissed the petition filed by the Karnataka State Board of Auqaf for a 'khata' (document which identifies the ownership of a property) in its favour for the communally-sensitive Idgah Maidan, and had declared Karnataka Revenue Department to be the default owner of the land.
"Several persons and groups had come out wanting to hoist the national flag on August 15. All these days it was Corporation (BBMP) property.. now it is no more a Corporation property and has come to the Revenue Department and after consulting the Legal department, officers and intelligence chief Dayananda, it has been decided that a Revenue Department official will hoist the flag," Revenue Minister R Ashoka said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, Assistant Commissioner- Bengaluru North will hoist the flag and as per protocol an MP and local MLA among others are allowed to participate in the event, along with people.
"Deputy Commissioner of Police who has jurisdiction over the area has been asked to make all bandobast, and for no reasons other than slogans like Bharat Mata ki Jai, Vande Mataram and hailing freedom fighters- no other slogans like religious will be allowed, and police commissioner will issue an order imposing restriction," he added.
Following the BBMP order, several Hindu organisations had announced that they will celebrate Independence Day on August 15 on the ground.
Also, Local Congress MLA B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan too had announced that they will go ahead and hoist the tricolour on the ground.
Appealing to everyone to abide by law, the Minister said anyone involved in any violation or mischief will be dealt strictly in accordance with law.
He said if any one has any claims over the title of the land, they can make an appeal to the Revenue department, and it will be decided accordingly as per rules. "One can even approach the court."
The decades-old dispute over Idgah Maidan had once again come to fore earlier this year, when some Hindu outfits sought BBMP's permission to hold events at the place.
This resulted in two contrary sets of documents emerging, as the Karnataka State Board of Auqaf presented a 1965 gazette notifying the land as Wakf property, while the 1974 City Survey records and all other civic records thereafter showed the land to be a playground.
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Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.
