Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slams BJP over "price rise", blames its "corrupt policies"
Kanakagiri (PTI): Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday slammed the BJP government, saying prices of essential commodities and services were spiralling due to its "corrupt policies".
Alleging that there was rampant corruption prevailing in the state, she said the BJP dispensation in Karnataka is known as "40 per cent commission government".
"Prices are skyrocketing in the state. Cooking gas cylinder, rice, pulses and flour prices have gone up. The price rise is due to a corrupt government formulating corrupt policies," she said in an election rally here in Koppal district of Karnataka, which votes on May 10.
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According to her, no one but the Contractors' Association has given the government such a tag. She said contractors were committing suicide because they have to give huge money as bribe to the government..
She also raised the alleged recruitment scams in the state.
"Isn't the government ashamed that you (people) spend so much on the education of your children and prepare them for competitive exams but like the police sub-inspector scam, the candidates come to know that some MLA stole money and their recruitment has stopped," Vadra said.
She alleged that the son of a BJP MLA was caught with Rs eight crore in his house.
Vadra appealed to the people to not get carried away by the address of big (BJP) leaders on election day and divert their focus from the core issues related to their "daily grind".
राजस्थान, छत्तीसगढ़ और हिमाचल में कांग्रेस की सरकारों की अपनी एक पहचान है।
— Congress (@INCIndia) May 4, 2023
लेकिन कर्नाटक 40% कमीशन की सरकार के लिए प्रसिद्ध है। क्या ये शर्म की बात नहीं है?
और यह नाम किसी पार्टी ने नहीं बल्कि राज्य के लोगों ने दिया है।
: @priyankagandhi जी
📍 Kanakagiri, Karnataka pic.twitter.com/5Eh6oyyQY3
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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.
