Rs 200 Cr to be released for rain-affected districts: CM
Bengaluru, August 16: Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that in order to take up relief works and give compensation in the rain-hit districts including Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Hassan, Chikmagaluru, Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada, the government would release Rs 200 crore immediately.
After holding a meeting with senior officers of various departments to know the present situation in the state, he told media persons here on Thursday that respective deputy commissioners were directed to submit reports on damages due to rains within two days. All those districts have received highest rainfall than normal rainfall. It was decided to take the help of the army in relief works in Kodagu. All district ministers have camped in their respective districts and overseeing the relief works, he said.
Total 29 gruel centres were opened and 1,755 persons were given shelter. In rain-related incidents, two persons in Udupi and one each in Udupi and Shivamogga lost their lives. Though it was tried to rescue them through helicopter, it was not possible due to bad weather, he said.
Based on the reports of the deputy commissioners, the state government would decide on demanding compensation from the centre. Control rooms were set up in all deputy commissioners’ offices and they are working round-the-clock. The deputy commissioners have Rs 237.55 crore in their accounts and they were directed to take immediate relief measures, he said.
Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, Revenue Minister RV Deshpande, Housing and Urban Development Minister UT Khader, Tourism Minister Sa Ra Mahesh, Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar were present.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
