Karnataka: Senior Congress MLA asks government to declare Karnataka floods as natural disaster
Vijayapura: Describing the recent flood and torrential rains as one of the most devastating natural calamities in the history of the district, veteran Congress MLA, Yeshwantraigouda Patil has demanded the Central Government to declare it as ‘Natural Disaster’.
Addressing presspersons on Tuesday, he said that the district has witnessed heavy loss to properties and the crop. The neighboring districts such as Kalaburagi too have suffered similar losses due to the heavy rains he added.
“Since Chief Minister, BS Yediyurappa is coming for an aerial survey of the flood situation in Vijayapura on Wednesday, after taking stock of the situation, he should urge the Central Government to declare these floods as a natural disaster. Since the State government is facing acute financial crises, it may not be in a position to allocate adequate funds for relief operations. If declared as a national disaster, the Central government can offer funds to help the affected people of this region”, Patil said.
Referring to the reports of the State government deciding to borrow Rs. 36,000 crore from banks to meet financial deficit, Patil opined that these funds should be used to help the victim by keeping other development projects pending for some time as they are not more important than bringing the life of affected people back to normal.
Blaming no coordination between the officials between Maharashtra and Karnataka for discharging huge quantum of water from dams of Maharashtra to Karnataka, that led to major crop loss, Patil said that the Central Government should formulate a national policy on monitoring the discharge of water from dams.
“Due to the lack of coordination between States on discharging water from the dams, poor people suffer as water enters their habitation and farms. Since discharging of water from major dams is an inter-State issue, the Central Government should form a separate policy for keeping a watch over the discharge to prevent damage to people and properties that happens due to unscientific discharge of water”, he said.
Besides urging the Central Government to frame a monitoring policy, the MLA suggested the State government to deploy a State’s official in Maharashtra during monsoon season to keep track of the discharge of water from their dams in Krishna and Bhima Rivers.
Lamenting that till today, there is no exact data available on the quantum of water Maharashtra has discharged from its dams into Karnataka, Patil demanded a fact-finding committee to be set to find out the truth.
“We kept receiving conflicting reports of the quantum of water discharged by Maharashtra. Different officials gave different figures. The government must find the exact data and take action against officials who did not keep track of the release”, he said.
Blaming the officials of Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Limited for failing to discharge the water at the right time from Sonna Barrage, he said that if the water was discharged at the right time, it would have saved several properties from damage.
Taking exception to the government’s decision of giving only Rs. 10,000 as interim relief to affected people, Patil said that it should be at least Rs. 1 lakh to rebuild the houses and cover the loss.
To a question, he said that during his meeting with the CM on Wednesday, he will present all his demands.
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Thane court sentences man to life imprisonment for bludgeoning wife to death
Thane (PTI): A court in Maharashtra's Thane district sentenced a man to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of his wife, whom he attacked 22 times with a hammer in front of his children, based on the testimony of his 13-year-old daughter.
Principal district and sessions judge S B Agrawal found the accused, Vijay Mishra alias Samir Shaikh, guilty under sections 302 (murder) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The court sentenced him to life imprisonment and a three-year term to be served concurrently. It also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh for the murder charge and an additional Rs 10,000 for injuring his minor daughter and mother-in-law, who had tried to intervene during the fatal attack.
Additional public prosecutor Rashmi Kshirsagar informed that 11 prosecution witnesses, including the accused's daughter, were examined during the trial.
According to the prosecution, the victim, Zarin Israr Ansari, had been living with her mother, along with her daughter and a six-year-old son, for two years following prolonged domestic violence and disputes.
The accused, who had converted to Islam to marry Zarin 14 years prior, harboured deep resentment over her living separately and suspected her character.
On the afternoon of September 28, 2023, the accused stormed into his mother-in-law's residence in Mumbra with a hammer concealed in a bag, cornered his wife on the mezzanine floor, dragged her down, locked the main door, and repeatedly bludgeoned her.
The court defended the testimony of the victim's 13-year-old daughter, who was an eyewitness and had sustained injuries herself, noting that minor inconsistencies do not degrade the core truth of an innocent child's account:
"...they are not of any significant consequence since it is not expected from such a witness of 10 years of age to have a total photographic memory to be reproduced before the court. But as far as the incident is concerned, evidence of this witness is totally free from any reasonable doubt."
The prosecution had also stated that the accused had locked his family inside and threatened a neighbour by brandishing a "bomb-like thing" and declaring he would blow up the building if anyone intervened.
The victim's brother eventually broke down the latched door, disarmed the accused, and pinned him down until the police arrived.
The post-mortem report revealed that the victim had suffered 22 brutal injuries and had died due to severe head wounds.
