Karnataka to vaccinate 1.5 lakh people daily from March 8
Bengaluru, Mar 7: Karnataka will intensify the inoculation drive from March 8, by providing vaccines at 3,000 centres including the primary health centres and district hospitals, with a target to vaccinate 1.5 lakh people everyday, state Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Sunday.
At a meeting held on Saturday to review the COVID-19 situation and progress of vaccination drive, the Minister instructed the officials to make the vaccines available at 3,000 centres from Monday, the minister's office said in a statement.
Sudhakar also appealed to the people to come forward in large numbers to take the vaccine.
According to the health department, at present the 20,000 to 28,000 people are getting vaccinated and majority of them are people above the age of 60 years.
Sudhakar expressed concern over the sudden spike in cases in the Bengaluru urban district from 200 to 250 cases a day for the past few weeks to 400 on Friday.
"As many as 12 clusters have been identified in BBMP limits and testing will be increased to 40,000 from the current 30,000," the statement read.
The minister underlined the need to make the contact tracing robust with tracking and tracing a minimum of 20 primary and secondary contacts for each positive case.
All these 20 contacts will be subjected to Covid-19 test, he added.
The Minister hinted that the city has witnessed a spurt in cases due to Kerala and Maharashtra.
"The challenge is due to the neighbouring states of Kerala and Maharashtra which have high case load.
Along with strict measures at borders, restrictions on large gatherings will also be tightened," he said in the statement.
Emphasising the importance of avoiding large gatherings and agitations in the next one month, Sudhakar said he would speak to the police officials to enforce the guidelines.
Testing in Mangaluru would be ramped up in view of more inter-state travellers there.
This apart, instructions have been issued to Bengaluru Urban, Dakshina Kannada, Mysuru, Chamaajanagara, Udupi, Kodagu, Belagavi and Tumkuru to be more vigilant, the minister said.
He added that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa would hold a video conference with district administration wherever there are chances of high prevalence of cases.
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Assam TMC president Ripun Bora quits party
Guwahati, Sep 1: Assam Trinamool Congress president Ripun Bora on Sunday resigned from the party, claiming that the people of the northeastern state consider it as a "regional party" of West Bengal and are "not willing to accept" it as their own.
In a letter to All India Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, Bora, a former Rajya Sabha member, said he had offered many suggestions to party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to make TMC acceptable in Assam, but those were "not implemented".
"Assam TMC has great potential, but several recurring issues have hindered our progress, including the perception of TMC as a regional party of West Bengal. To counter this perception, we made several suggestions," Bora said in his resignation letter.
Bora claimed that he had suggested the need for an Assamese leader at the national level of TMC, declaring the residence of Bharat Ratna Dr Bhupen Hazarika at Tollygunge in Kolkata as a heritage site and converting the Madhupur Satra in Cooch Behar to a cultural hub.
"Despite my repeated attempts over the past year and a half to secure an appointment with you and our chief Mamata Didi to address these concerns, I have been unsuccessful," said Bora, former Assam minister and state Congress president.
Bora said that he has served as the state president of Assam TMC for over two years and during this period, he interacted extensively with people across the state.
"Unfortunately, the issues mentioned above have led many people in Assam to continue viewing TMC as a regional party of West Bengal. The people of Assam are not willing to accept a party that they perceive as being from another state.
"In light of these challenges and the lack of an adequate resolution, I feel compelled to make a difficult decision and have decided to disassociate myself from TMC," said Bora, who had switched over to the TMC from Congress in April 2022.
He expressed gratitude to Mamata Banerjee for allowing him to lead Assam TMC and lauded her for the "uncompromising fight against fascist and communal forces".
"My decision to resign is not borne out of grievances but rather due to circumstances beyond my control. I will continue to fight against communal and fascist forces on a personal level. Please consider this letter as my formal resignation from the party membership," he said.
Bora claimed that under his leadership, the party had launched a massive membership drive, establishing a strong presence across 31 of Assam's 35 districts within six months.
"We expanded TMC's reach to the block and panchayat levels and formed key cells and departments such as SC, OBC, human rights and minority to strengthen the party's influence.
"Our efforts and a series of agitational programmes against the BJP received a phenomenal response; however, they did not translate into success in the Lok Sabha elections. I have already shared an analysis of this outcome with you," Bora told Banerjee in the letter.
Later in the day, Assam Trinamool Youth Congress president Mehboob Ali also resigned from the party.
"Due to my personal reasons, I resign from the post of president of the youth wing of Assam TMC as well as from the party," he said.
