While Trump touted America’s reopening and watched infections climb, European leaders maintained strict rules and drove cases down.
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Monday, June 22, 2020
Karnataka's Kanakapura to observe self-imposed lockdown till July 1: DK Shivakumar
Kanakapura MLA DK Shivakumar announced the decision after a meeting with civic officials, political leaders, and social organisations in Kanakapura.
In Karnataka's Kanakapura constituency of Ramanagara district, a self-imposed lockdown will be observed until July 1 due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases. The decision to go into lockdown was taken after a meeting chaired by Kanakapura MLA DK Shivakumar along with civic officials, political leaders, and representatives of social organisations at the Kanakapura Municipality office. The meeting was convened due to the rise in COVID-19 cases and was attended by Bengaluru Rural MP DK Suresh, brother of DK Shivakumar, MLC Ravi, Deputy Commissioner Archana and Superintendent of Police Anoop Shetty. DK Shivakumar said that the decision was unanimously taken to protect the health of the residents in Kanakapura. "This is not a government order but officials in Kanakapura have decided this on our own to protect the health of our people," he told reporters. Traders selling essential items including grocery, fruits and vegetables, will keep their stores open between 7 am and 11 am in the morning. The district administration will decide on the timings for medical shops and wine stores to remain open. The silk market in Kanakapura too will remain open until a decision is taken on its timings. Shivakumar further said that the government will be giving Rs 60 per person for those admitted at Ramanagara government hospital and those in quarantine centres for their food expenses. "This will be insufficient so I will be giving Rs 100 on top of this to ensure our people get quality food," Shivakumar said. The Kanakapura MLA, who is also the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), however clarified that the lockdown will not interfere with the students writing exams this week. Class 10 board exams are set to begin from Thursday across the state. "We will be distributing masks to students in the state. We have readied 1 lakh masks for this purpose," Shivakumar said. Elsewhere, Bengaluru's Chickpet shopping district will close for a week after traders voluntarily decided to suspend normal business due to a rise in COVID-19 cases in and around the area. Ramanagara district in Karnataka has recorded 89 coronavirus cases so far of which 82 cases are currently active. As of Sunday, Karnataka has reported 9150 COVID-19 cases of which 3391 are active cases. The number of cases reported in Bengaluru is 1272 of which 428 were reported in the last three days.
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Bengaluru’s Chickpet shopping district to close for a week as COVID-19 cases rise
Over 20,000 shops have reportedly expressed an intention to close their shops.
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Traders’ associations in the main shopping district in Bengaluru’s Chickpet area have voluntarily decided against holding normal business operations for a week after areas in and around the market have been reporting a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases. The shopping market will be closed until June 29. Chickpet is a centrally-located shopping district with around 50,000 shops, where consumers can purchase cloth, sarees, paper goods, jewellery and electronic goods in bulk. The closure of this main market would mean losses amounting to crores of rupees per day, Deccan Herald reported. The daily reported that over 20,000 shops had expressed an intention to close their shops. They said that they would meet with the local MLA, Congresses Dinesh Gundu Rao to come to a collective decision on Monday. BJP corporator Leela Shivakumar told DH that the area witnesses a footfall of 1.2 lakh to 2 lakh people every day due to trade-related activities, a number which increases during the weekend, and that around 400 people in the area are currently under home quarantine since they returned from outside the state. However, the move has not sat well with some individuals who are part of the Chickpet traders association. They said that even if the business was not open to the public, it was undemocratic of the association to demand that they pull down the shutters to all the offices. This was because businesses would still need to complete other official tasks like salary bills, accounting, and so on, the Hindu reported. Bengaluru reported 196 new cases of coronavirus on June 21, taking the total in the city to over a thousand cases. 102 new cases in Bengaluru had no travel or contact history. The state, meanwhile, reported 453 new cases on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 9,150. Read: 279 containment zones in Bengaluru as of Saturday, 31 apartments marked as zones
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Karnataka coffee growers suffer Rs 700 crore estimated loss due to lockdown
Besides adverse weather conditions and lack of labour during harvest season, the already struggling coffee industry in the state has been further affected by the coronavirus.
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Reeling under distress and losses due to rains, floods and landslides over the last two years, the COVID-induced lockdown has been brewing fresh crisis for coffee growers in Karnataka, the land of the aromatic beverage, according to a trade representative, in Bengaluru on Saturday. "Even as we were grappling with the fallout of floods and landslides on plantations over the last 2 years, the extended COVID lockdown spelt heavy losses for us as it disrupted operations and damaged coffee beans," Karnataka Planters' Association Chairman Shirish Vijayendra told IANS from Chikmagalur, about 240 km northwest of Bengaluru. As plucking of Arabica and Robusta beans was getting over, the lockdown, enforced on March 25 and extended since then to contain the pandemic, prevented growers from trading, curing and exporting coffee in seed or powder form. "The suspension of public transport and prevention of vehicular movement during the first two phases of the lockdown till May 3 also prevented growers from harvesting beans and pepper inter-crop, as workers couldn't commute to estates for weeks," Vijayendra recalled. With migrant workers from neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala, returning to their native places to avoid coronavirus infection, movement of harvested coffee to curing works was affected. "As work in plantations came to a grinding halt due to lockdown restrictions, growers had no income as beans couldn't be processed for sale or curing and trading for domestic consumption or exports," lamented Vijayendra. Though many restrictions for the agriculture sector were eased after the 21-day first phase of lockdown, the plantation commodity sectors like coffee, tea, rubber and spices, didn't benefit as they are considered commercial crops and not exempted from taxes and other central or state levies. The prolonged lockdown also held up coffee at the farm gate of growers, curing works, traders and at ports. "Though about 70 per cent of coffee is exported, domestic consumption was affected as roasters, retail outlets, cafes and hotels remained shut and beans couldn't be processed or sold," said Vijayendra. Coffee production declined 50 per cent in 2019-20 and 35 per cent in 2018-19 due to heavy rain, floods and landslides from about 3,00,000 tonnes in the past. Fall in international prices also affected export revenue. Drought and dry weather for three consecutive years (2015-16 to 2017-18) due to the southwest monsoon's failure had a cascading effect. The steep rise in input cost, wages and social benefits to workers also shot up the production cost. "We estimate the overall loss to the coffee plantation sector in Karnataka at about Rs 700 crore due to disruption in harvesting, trading and export because of the lockdown and the coronavirus fallout," reiterated Vijayendra. According to the Association, the loss in harvesting Robusta crop is Rs 131 crore, in Arabica and Robusta gleanings Rs 88 crore, in inventory of beans held by growers Rs 144 crore, in harvesting of pepper Rs 78 crore and exports Rs 250 crore. Exports were also affected as transportation from plantations to ports was delayed due to lockdown and shortage of labour and vehicles. "As offices of traders and exporters remained shut and operations at Mangaluru and other ports suspended due to non-availability of labour, our export stocks got stuck for several weeks," said Vijayendra. As the largest producer of the aromatic beans, Karnataka accounts for about 70% of coffee production in the country, with dozen districts across the central, coastal and southern regions of the state like Chikmaglur, Kodagu and Hassan, spawning the rich-bio diverse Western Ghats in the Deccan plateau, producing the beans since 500 years.
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NGT imposes Rs 10 lakh penalty on Karnataka govt over pollution in Bengaluru lake
The tribunal also levied a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on the Bommasandra municipal council.
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The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed an interim penalty of Rs 10 lakh on the Karnataka government over pollution in the Kithiganahalli Lake, near Bommasandra suburb in Bengaluru. The NGT said it is a criminal offence being committed by the authorities in not stopping the discharge of pollutants into the water bodies. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel also slapped a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the municipal council of Bommasandra for failure to discharge its duties. Besides this, the tribunal imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on the Karnataka government. "Karnataka is liable to pay Rs 10 lakh and the Municipal Council, Bommasandra is liable to pay Rs 5 lakh. Final compensation will be determined after hearing the state and the municipal council," the bench said. If necessary, an expert committee will be appointed and it would be open to the state and the municipal council to recover the amount from the erring officers, the tribunal further said. "Failure of important constitutional obligations by the municipal council, as well as apathy and defiance of orders of this tribunal and the Supreme Court by state authorities, is at the cost of environment and public health. (It) is very unfortunate for which prompt remedial actions must be taken and accountability of erring officers fixed," the bench said. The NGT said only writing a letter is not compliance of the law, and the stand taken by the authorities concerned can hardly be described as a responsible stand. Discharge of untreated sewage into water bodies causes huge damage and the prevention of the same is the duty of the state authorities as the trustees of people's rights, the tribunal noted, adding that such duty is being clearly breached. "In view of the above for the damage caused to the environment, the state of Karnataka and Municipal Council, Bommasandra are held liable to pay interim compensation assessed on ad-hoc basis at Rs. 15 lakh. The amount of interim compensation is liable to be deposited with the Central Pollution Control Board within one month and maybe spent for restoration of the environment, the bench said. The green panel was hearing a plea filed by Sanjay Rao and others, seeking action against pollution in the Kithiganahalli Lake due to dumping of garbage.
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COVID-19: Bengaluru police stations to set up kiosks for filing of complaints
The Bengaluru Police Commissioner has also granted medical leave to police personnel above 55 years with chronic illnesses.
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Alarmed over a number of police personnel getting infected by coronavirus on duty and with a few coronavirus-hit police stations sealed, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao directed that kiosks be set up outside all police stations for filing complaints, an official said in Bengaluru on Sunday. "Rao instructed all the 155 police stations to set up kiosks outside for public to register complaints and not allow outsiders inside the premises to prevent coronavirus spread," a senior police official told IANS. Addressing the staff, Rao said people visiting the station should be screened with a thermal scanner, and it should be ensured that they are wearing masks and maintaining physical distance while filing complaints at the kiosk. "Only police personnel in uniform can enter police stations and they must wear the mask or face shield all the time and ensure social distancing," said the official, quoting Bhaskar Rao's dos and don'ts to the staff. Bhaskar Rao has also granted medical leave to personnel above 55 years with chronic illnesses. "All officers in the rank of sub-inspector, assistant sub-inspector (ASI) and head constables above 55 years with history of illnesses, including diabetes and blood pressure, should be under home quarantine," the official said. According to the Health Department bulletin, 24 police personnel, including 14 in Mysuru and six in Bengaluru, tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday. Among the infected Bengaluru cops are a woman assistant sub-inspector (ASI) attached to the city crime branch (CCB), another ASI from Wilson Garden traffic police station, two Karnataka State Reserve Police constables and one constable each from the CCB (city crime branch) and City Market police station. "The 14 virus-affected police personnel from Mysuru were on Covid duty in Bengaluru from June 6-17," said the official. Besides Cubbon Park police station in the city centre, Shankarapuram and Kalasipalaya police stations were also sealed and sanitised after personnel working there tested positive. "A head constable attached to the Kalasipalya station succumbed to the virus on Saturday, two days after he tested positive and was admitted to the state-run Victoria Hospital in the city centre," the official said. Read: Two more cops in Bengaluru succumb to COVID-19, 13 others test positive
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Sunday, June 21, 2020
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