Chikmagaluru, July 10: The land of coffee has literally become the land of rains. Because of heavy rains, the normal life has gone haywire in Malnad.
Heavy downpour is wreaking havoc everywhere due to which a wall of cowshed which was in dilapidated condition collapsed on a woman killing her on the spot. Reports on collapse of houses, landslides, obstruction of vehicular movement were coming in from all corners of the district. Due to heavy rains, the major rivers like Hemavathi, Tunga, Bhadra and other small streams are overflowing above the danger level in the district. The rain which started on last Friday has been lashing out continuously since then. As a result, the normal life in malnad is paralysed. Mudigere, Koppa, Sringeri and NR Pura taluks in the district have been receiving heavy rains causing damage to private and public properties.
Because of the heavy downpour in Koppa taluk, a house belonging to Raghu was collapsed at Devaramane village in Hariharapura hobli in the taluk on Monday night. But no casualties were reported. It is said that the loss worth lakhs was occurred in the incident.
As the magnitude of the rain has increased Sringeri taluk, the Tunga river water submerged the agriculture fields on the bank of the river causing heavy loss. As Tunga river water marooned the Gandhi Maidan in the temple town, vehicular movement and parking was disturbed. The life of petty shop owners were greatly affected as the water gushed into the shops. The heavy rains created alarming situation as the river might cause flood at any time. So, the taluk administration has already shifted the people down the line to the safer places. Gandhi maidan was completely submerged in the rainwater. People opine that after 20 years, the town has been receiving such a heavy rains this time.
Woman dies in cowshed wall collapse
A woman died on the spot when the wall of cowshed which was in dilapidated condition collapsed on her at Kambihalli village near Mallandur in Chikmagalur taluk on Monday night. The woman was identified as Vanaja (48). When the woman was working in the cowshed, the wall collapsed on her killing her on the spot. With the death of Vanaja, the death toll increased to three in this rainy season in the district. Earlier, two farmers died in the rain-related incidents. One farmer Umesh swept away in Tunga river at Sringeri and another farmer Surendra fell into an agriculture pond and died.
Set-back to farming activities
As the district is receiving heavy downpour every day, the agriculture activities of coffee, areca and paddy witnessed a set-back. Now, the farmers are fearing of losing their areca crops due to fungal and yellow leaf disease. During this time, the areca trees should be sprayed pesticides. But because of heavy rains, the farmers are unable to take up the work. This might cause fungal disease for areca in Malnad region. In the same way, the rain affected the paddy and coffee cultivation as well.
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BENGALURU: Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara on Monday alleged Electronic Voting Machine manipulations led to the defeat of Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in just concluded assembly polls in Maharashtra.
While speaking to reporters here on Monday, he said the BJP does selective manipulations to convince people that there were no wrongdoings. He also wanted to go back to the paper ballots system.
The ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra won a landslide victory in the assembly elections, shattering the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi's dream to wrest power. The BJP won the highest ever 132 seats for the party, while the Shiv Sena led by Shinde bagged 57 seats and NCP won 41 seats to take the Mahayuti total to 230 seats. Congress as part of MVA won just 16 seats.
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"We analysed the Maharashtra poll outcome deeply. We felt that in many places EVMs were manipulated," Parameshwara said. He also said an obvious question would be why not it happened in Jharkhand and elsewhere. The manipulations are done selectively so that no one can question it, he blamed.
According to him, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is a leading partner. Had the Congress been the leading partner, things would have changed. He backed the ballot papers saying that the same was discussed in Maharashtra Congress as well.