Situation in Shivamogga town area peaceful and under control: Police
Shivamogga (PTI): The situation in Ragi Gudda area in the district headquarters town of Shivamogga, where prohibitory orders have been clamped after tension during the Eid Milad procession and alleged incidents of stone pelting, is now peaceful and under control, police said on Monday.
Tension prevailed in the area following alleged incidents of stone pelting on Sunday.
The situation is now under control, Shivamogga Superintendent of Police G K Mithun Kumar said.
He said, a few people including the police have suffered injuries and some properties have been damaged in the incident.
"We have asked those who suffered injuries and property damage, to file complaints. We have already secured some people, who were involved in the incident. There is videography, CCTV camera and drone camera footage, we will nab all those involved and ensure they are punished," he added.
The SP also said there is sufficient force including Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP), one company of Rapid Action Force (RAF), 900 home guards, 2,000 police staff and senior officials to maintain law and order.
"We have made sufficient bandobust. There won't be any problem in Shivamogga city and the situation is peaceful," he said, appealing to people not to pay heed to any rumours.
According to police, an angry mob is said to have thrown stones at a few houses and vehicles and injured several people, allegedly following rumours that there was a stone pelting on the Eid Milad procession last evening.
Police officials said they had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse the mob.
Earlier on Sunday before the stone pelting incident, there were protests in the Ragi Gudda area over a cutout that was put up as part of the procession, as the police had covered a portion of it, due to "bit controversial (content)", which upset people of a community, police said.
Mithun Kumar and other police officers had reached the spot and held talks with the people to bring the situation under control.
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'Low-quality' catheters supplied to West Bengal govt hospitals at high price, probe ordered
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal health department has launched a probe into the supplies of allegedly low-quality and locally made catheters at a high price to several government hospitals, posing a risk to the lives of patients undergoing treatment in these facilities, officials said.
Such central venous catheters (CVCs) were allegedly supplied to at least five medical colleges and hospitals in the state, defying allocation of international standard-compliant CVCs, they said.
The distribution company, which has been accused of supplying these catheters to government hospitals, admitted to the fault but placed the blame on its employees.
"We started checking stocks some time back and found these locally made CVCs in my hospital store. These catheters are of low quality as compared to those allocated by the state. We have informed the state health department," a senior official of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital told PTI.
Low-quality catheters were also found in the stores of other hospitals, which indicates "possible involvement of insiders in the scam", a health department official said.
The low-quality CVCs were supplied by a distributor in the Hatibagan area in the northern part of Kolkata for the last three to four months, he said.
"Such kinds of local CVCs are priced around Rs 1,500 but the distributor took Rs 4,177 for each device," the official said.
A CVC is a thin and flexible tube that is inserted into a vein to allow for the administration of fluids, blood, and other treatment. It's also clinically called a central line catheter.
"An initial probe revealed that the distribution company Prakash Surgical had supplied the low-quality and locally manufactured catheters to several government hospitals instead of the CVCs of the government-designated international company.
"All the units will be tested and a proper investigation is on to find out who benefited from these supplies," the health department official said.
The distribution company blamed its employees for the supply of inferior quality catheters.
"I was sick for a few months. Some employees of the organisation made this mistake. We are taking back all those units that have gone to the hospitals. It's all about misunderstanding," an official of the distribution company told PTI.
According to another state health department official, a complaint was lodged with the police in this connection.
Asked about how many patients were affected by the usage of such low-quality CVCs, the official said, "The probe would also try to find that out".
According to sources in the health department, some of the staff of the hospitals' equipment receiving departments and some local officials of international organisations might be involved in the alleged irregularities.
