Time has come for encounter killing: Minister Ashwath Narayan on BJYM leader's murder
Bengaluru, Jul 29: Amid outrage over the murder of a BJP youth wing leader, the Karnataka Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan on Friday favoured "encounter" killings of perpetrators of such incidents and said the State government is ready for it.
Without giving any opportunity, merciless action will be taken. We are ready for encounter (killings). We have already communicated to our Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and the State government, Narayan, who holds the higher education, skill development, IT-BT portfolio, told reporters.
The Minister was responding to a query on the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) district-level office-bearer Praveen Nettar's murder in his village Nettaru in Bellare near Sullia in Dakshina Kannada district on Tuesday when he was heading home after closing his shop.
Narayan said, Some instigators are testing our patience. Hence, our government and the Chief minister have given a clear message. In the coming days, we will make arrangements that the criminals should tremble to even think or dream of committing such murders.
Time has come for encounter (killings). Our government will take stringent action. We will not give any chance for such activities by forming special squads. We will initiate measures to save innocent people, the Minister said.
No one should suffer the way the BJYM activist's family is suffering.
Motorcycle-borne assailants hacked Nettar to death leading to tension in the district and public outrage. Police have held three suspects in connection with the case. Two of them have been identified as Mohammed Zakir and Shafiq.
Following the outcry, Chief Minister Bommai said today that the State government has decided to hand over the case to the National Investigation Agency.
Two days after Nettar's death, another youth Mohammed Fazil was hacked to death on Thursday by unknown assailants at Surathkal in Dakshina Kannada district. Investigations into the matter is on, the police said.
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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.
