Rajarajeshwari Nagar heads to polls today
Bengaluru: Congress, BJP and JDS triangular contest in the Rajarajeshwari city polls in the wake of the political calculations that have changed in the state.
Polling began on a peaceful note in Rajarajeshwari Nagar Assembly constituency in the city on Monday where Congress, JD(S) and BJP locked in a triangular battle.
The chief electoral officer (CEO) of Karnataka had postponed the elections in this constituency after raids by the department led to the unearthing of around 10,000 Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) cards and thousands of form 6 documents were recovered from a private apartment in the locality a few days before the 12 May Karnataka assembly polls.
The constituency is witnessing a ‘friendly fight’ between the new alliance partners the Congress and JD(S), as talks between the allies over seat sharing in the segment failed.
However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has declared a holiday on Monday in the constituency to ensure all 4,71,459 voters exercise their franchise. Fourteen candidates, including four independents, are in the fray.
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Bhopal gas tragedy: Effects of leak seen in next generation of survivors, says ex-forensic doctor
Bhopal (PTI): The effects of poisonous gases that leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal 40 years ago were seen in the next generations of those who survived the tragedy, a former government forensic doctor has said.
At least 3,787 people were killed, and more than five lakh were affected after a toxic gas leaked from the pesticide factory in the city on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984.
Speaking at an event held by organisations of gas tragedy survivors on Saturday, Dr D K Satpathy, former head of the forensics department of Bhopal's Gandhi Medical College, said he performed 875 post-mortems on the first day of the disaster and witnessed 18,000 autopsies the next five years.
Sathpathy claimed Union Carbide had denied questions about the effects of poisonous gases on unborn children of women survivors and said effects would not cross the placental barrier in the womb in any condition.
He said blood samples of pregnant women who died in the tragedy were examined, and it was found that 50 per cent of poisonous substances found in the mother were also found in the child in her womb.
Children born to surviving mothers had the poisonous substances in their system, and this affected the health of the next generation, Sathpathy claimed and questioned why research on this was stopped.
Such effects will continue for generations, he said.
Satpathy said it was said that MIC gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant, and when it came in contact with water, thousands of gases were formed, and some of these caused cancer, blood pressure and liver damage.
Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said Satpathy, who carried out most autopsies, and other first responders in the 1984 disaster, including the senior doctors in the emergency ward and persons involved in mass burials, narrated their experiences during the event.
Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, a poster exhibition covering every aspect of the disaster will be held till December 4 to mark the 40th anniversary of the tragedy.
An anniversary rally will be organised, with focus on global corporate crimes such as industrial pollution and climate change, she said.
