Farmer drives burning tractor into lake, stops fire from spreading
BENGALURU: The quick thinking of a groundnut farmer in Jammanakatti village in Bagalkot district of Karnataka helped prevent a fire from spreading to several houses in the village.
Yankappa, 28, has been hailed by the residents of the village for driving a tractor that caught fire into a lake on Monday.
At around 4 pm, Yankappa was driving the tractor on a narrow village road with houses on either side. This was when the hay loaded on the tractor came into contact with an electrical wire and caught fire. The hay, stacked about 20 feet high, caught fire immediately and started spreading fast.
In spite of the heat rising behind him, Yankappa kept his cool and steered the tractor towards the lake in the village. “Standing still was not an option because the fire would have spread from the tractor to the houses nearby. The residents of the village came forward to show me the way and told me that the best thing to do was to drive the tractor into the lake,” Yankappa says, recounting the series of events that has catapulted him to fame locally.
Residents on the spot scrambled to pour water and douse the fire but it proved inadequate to contain the fast spreading fire. Seeing no other option, Yankappa accelerated and began driving the tractor towards the lake. By this time, a few people had begun filming the incident which shows the back of the tractor engulfed by a giant ball of fire and burnt hay flying all around, even as Yankappa picked up pace.
When he reached the lake, Yankappa drove right into the water and jumped out of the vehicle as the tractor half-submerged in the water and the fire died down slowly.
Yankappa claims that he incurred a loss of Rs 30,000 and is hoping for some kind of compensation following the awful incident.
courtesy : thenewsminute.com
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
