Checkposts will come up in border regions having village-to-village contact to stop COVID surge: CM
Kalaburagi, Jan 4: With rising COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra and Kerala, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said checkposts will be set up in places where there are village-to-village contacts between Karnataka and neighbouring states.
He also said the police station under the jurisdiction will be responsible for such checkposts.
"Our experiences since the first and second wave have been that the infections in Karnataka rise whenever COVID-19 cases spiral in our neighbouring states, with whom we have daily business activities. We have to focus on that area," Bommai told reporters.
When asked about the laxity in the border regions, the Chief Minister said the border is vast and checking is happening at the main checkposts only. However, there are contacts with neighbouring states at the village level.
"Today, I am going to issue a direction to hold the police stations responsible for places where there is village-to-village contact. We will set up checkposts in such villages there and deploy people," the Chief Minister said.
To a query on the possibility of a lockdown, semi-lockdown or weekend curfew, Bommai said he will have to wait for the experts' view on it. He, however, pointed out that the lockdown will have an adverse effect on the economy.
"We have to keep the economy moving along with taking care of public health. That's the thinking of our government. I seek public support to contain the spread of the disease," Bommai said.
Regarding the possibility of closure of schools and colleges in view of rising COVID cases, Bommai said he will go by what the experts say in the meeting later in the evening.
The state on Monday reported 1,290 cases and five deaths of which 1,041 infections and three fatalities were in Bengaluru itself.
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Centre sanctions additional 4.68 lakh houses for poor people in Karnataka: Union Minister Chauhan
Bengaluru (PTI): Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan on Saturday said the Centre has sanctioned an additional 4.68 lakh houses for the people from the economically weaker sections in Karnataka.
This is apart from the 2.57 lakh houses sanctioned by the Centre originally, Chauhan, who holds rural development, agriculture and farmers' Welfare portfolio, told reporters here.
The Minister said he had a meeting with Karnataka rural development, revenue and agriculture ministers this morning.
After Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister for the third term, he sanctioned 2.57 lakh houses in September as part of his commitment to provide a 'Pucca' house for every poor family of the state and released grants for it, he said.
"Now we have decided to increase the target and, in all, we have sanctioned 4.68 lakh additional houses. For BJP, serving poor is the worship of God," the Minister said.
Chauhan appealed to the Karnataka government to complete the housing project at the earliest. Under the Border Area Development Scheme Rs 97 crore will be released for Karnataka, the Minister said adding that the Centre also agreed to release additional grants for the mechanization scheme in the agriculture department.
The Centre has also sanctioned additional staff under the Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) scheme.
Chauhan said, "I appeal to the state government to utilise these funds on time and send us the Utilisation Certificate."
When asked about Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's allegation about unjust and unequal distribution of funds by the Centre, he said, "I have brought funds to Karnataka. There are two types of politics. One is the politics of blame game and second is politics of development and public welfare. The BJP believes in the second one."
