9 adverse events reported in Karnataka since vaccination rollout: Health Dept

Coronavirus

The latest was a Davangere woman who was hospitalised after being vaccinated on January 22.

TNM Staff

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An incident of Serious Adverse Events Following Immunisation (SAEFI) was reported in Karnataka on January 22, taking the total number to nine according to the Health Department bulletin. A 35-year-old female has been hospitalised in Davangere after she exhibited symptoms for SAEFI. The officials of the Health Department did not disclose the intensity of the impact and no updates were given. In another incident on January 21, a 38-year-old Mysuru woman also exhibited symptoms, however, she has recovered since then, according to a health bulletin. All the nine persons were given the vaccine Covishield (Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine developed in the UK). The recipients exhibited symptoms within 24-48 hours after they were vaccinated. A 47-year-old woman who is also a Davangere resident has recovered. Subsequently, others from Bengaluru Rural and Ramanagara have recovered as well. A 43-year-old resident of Karnataka's Bellary, who had taken vaccination, passed away two days later. The Health Ministry had ordered for a post-mortem to be conducted, which found that the death was due to cardiopulmonary failure. Another 58-year-old man in Shivamogga died; however, it was also ascertained that the Shivamogga resident died owing to other conditions and that the event is not related to the vaccination. The Serum Institute of India, which is manufacturing the Covishield vaccine, had released a fact sheet saying that anyone who is severely allergic to any of the ingredients of the vaccine should not be taking it.  The ingredients are "L-Histidine, L-Histidine hydrochloride monohydrate, Magnesium chloride hexahydrate, Polysorbate 80, Ethanol, Sucrose, Sodium chloride, Disodium edetate dihydrate (EDTA), water for injection." People taking Covishield should also inform the healthcare worker if they have fever, a bleeding disorder, are immune-compromised or have a bleeding disorder. The healthcare worker should also be informed if the recipient is pregnant, breastfeeding or planning a pregnancy. The Union government had said as on Tuesday that only 0.18% of those vaccinated against COVID-19 had shown adverse reactions and only 0.002% required hospitalisation, which, it said, is “fairly low”. It should also be noted that side-effects are common to vaccination. Dr Jacob John, a reputed virologist, had told TMM that since the injection is given into the muscles and has biologically active substances, it will create pain in the site, and could also cause fever, body ache and so on. On the vaccination programme, the Health Department said that the targeted number of vaccination sessions for the day was achieved. Although, against the targeted coverage of 81,519, only 42,425 people were vaccinated, which amounted to just 52%, it said. Cumulatively, 1,77,022 people have been vaccinated against the target of 3,18,331, which is 56%, so far. Despite the setbacks, the state reported the highest number of healthcare workers being vaccinated across the country since the drive began.  Bengaluru Urban district accounted for 160 fresh infections and two fatalities. Barring Bengaluru, no other city reported even 20 cases.

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84 families protest after slum demolition in east Bengaluru leaves them homeless

Eviction

The slum located close to Bagmane Tech Park in Byrasandra was demolished after the land was handed over to the defence PSU BEML.

Prajwal Bhat

Dazed and wearing an off-white shirt, Ajmer sits on the side of the road, propping himself up against a fence. Around him, men and women walked past holding their belongings over their head. Pamphlets and family photos lay scattered on the ground.  The 38-year-old security guard has lived in a slum in Byrasandra in Bengaluru for around 10 years now. On Thursday, he helplessly watched as excavators demolished his home along with over 350 homes in the slum. The demolition was carried out after the land was handed over to BEML Limited, a defence public sector undertaking located nearby. "There was no time to remove my household items, the demolition was done. Now, I am on the street and have nowhere to go," says Ajmer, distraught at the sight of his home reduced to debris.  The demolition of the slum began at 11 am on Thursday with police officials at the slum to ensure that residents were evicted. While some residents had already left the slum before the demolition, many residents packed up their belongings and left the slum just as the demolition began. By the end of the day, the slum in Byrasandra was unrecognisable.   It is flanked on two sides by towering buildings — the Bagmane Tech Park and the BEML headquarters. Over 350 homes were demolished on Wednesday despite residents pleading with officials to stop the demolition. Notices were issued about the demolitions in advance. Two notices, from December 2020 and January 2021, was stuck on the doors of homes in the slum. Three hundred and three families in the slum were allocated new homes built by the Karnataka Slum Development Board in Marathahalli, 10 km away. However, residents said 84 families were not allocated new homes.  The slum came up in the 1990s and the land was acquired by BEML over 10 years ago. Documents showed that the Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner had directed the land acquisition officer to hand over the land to BEML in October 2007. The beneficiary list allotting new houses for the residents of the slum was prepared in 2012. However, residents like Ajmer found themselves left off the first beneficiary list. "We submitted applications asking for a re-survey and this was done in June last year. Once again, there are people here whose names have not been included in the list," Ajmer adds.  The verification survey Ajmer is referring to was conducted in June 2020 and following this, the number of beneficiaries was reduced from 313 to 303 with officials citing the deaths of ten people living in the slum. "Many families who are protesting say that the verification survey was conducted one day during the pandemic. These families have been marked as DL or 'door locked' in the survey," says Siddarth Joshi, an activist.  Three categories of families are yet to be allocated new homes -  those who were not present during the verification, those living in temporary shelters and those who started living in the slum after the survey was conducted. Even among those who have been allocated new homes, there is a reluctance to leave the slum in Byrasandra. Narayanamma, a 44-year-old domestic worker works in an apartment near the slum and says it will be tough to continue her work by commuting from Marathahalli. She has five daughters and four dogs in her home.  "This is the only home I have known and I wanted to continue living here," she says.  Narayanamma, a resident of the slum. Residents in the slum are mostly employed in daily-wage work in and around Byrasandra. Men were employed in jobs like housekeeping, construction work and as security guards while women worked as cooks and cleaners in apartments nearby. The residents were mostly from different parts of Karnataka and from neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.  Residents like Narayanamma managed to shift out of the slum into their new home in Marathahalli, but 84 families who are yet to be allocated new homes turned up at the slum development board office in Seshadripuram to protest. Even on Friday night, the protest by those rendered homeless by the demolition continued, with protesters asking officials to conduct a fresh survey and examine their documents again. Families protest against demolition at Slum Development Board office, Sheshadripuram KR Puram tahsildar Ajith Rai told TNM that the beneficiary list was finalised by the slum development board and the dispute is between the slum board and the residents. A slum development board official told TNM that the houses have been allotted after conducting multiple surveys and there will be no changes made to the list of beneficiaries. "We will look into this but we cannot allot houses to newcomers at the slum," says the official. With the impasse between the residents and slum development board officials, the protests are set to continue on Saturday.     

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Bengaluru reports 160 new COVID-19 cases as Karnataka sees overall dip in infections

Coronavirus

Three people died due to COVID-19 in Karnataka, with two fatalities reported in Bengaluru.

IANS

IMAGE FOR REPRESENTATION: PTI

Continuing the declining trend, new Covid cases plunged to 324 while 890 recovered in a day across Karnataka. "With 324 new cases on Thursday, the state's Covid tally increased to 9,34,576, including 6,985 active cases, while recoveries rose to 9,15,382, with 890 patients discharged during the day," said the state health bulletin on Friday. The virus claimed three lives, including two in Bengaluru and one in Dakshina Kannada district during the last 24 hours, taking the state's death toll to 12,190 so far. In Bengaluru, 160 fresh cases were reported on Thursday, taking the city's Covid tally to 3,96,300, including 4,598 active cases, while recoveries rose to 3,87,326, with 557 patients discharged in the last 24 hours. Of the 165 patients in the intensive care units (ICUs) across the southern state, 73 are in Bengaluru hospitals, and 10 each in Kalaburagi and Mandya districts. Out of 92,581 tests conducted during the day, 7,234 were through rapid-antigen detection and 85,347 through RT-PCR method. Positivity rate for the day was 0.34 per cent and case fatality rate 0.92 per cent on Thursday across the state. Meanwhile, of the 81,519 targetted healthcare warriors across the state, 42,425 took the vaccine, achieving 52 per cent coverage on Friday. Highest coverage (75 per cent) was in Chitradurga district, with 806 of the 1,079 registered beneficiaries taking the jab. Lowest coverage (20 per cent) was in Koppal district, with only 82 of the 414 beneficiaries too the shot. In Bengaluru, 7,771 of the 17,183 health workers were vaccinated, covering 45 per cent of the target. "Since January 16 when the vaccination drive was launched, 1,38,656 Covid warriors received the vaccine till Friday, with 1,36,882 given Covishield and 1,774 Covaxin," added the bulletin. Of the 8,47,908 registered healthcare warriors across the state, 3,27,201 are in the state-run hospitals and 4,45,389 in private hospitals while the remaining are civic workers.

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Yediyurappa reshuffles cabinet after some Ministers protest portfolio allocation

Politics

Ending a long wait, Yediyurappa had expanded his 17-month-old cabinet on January 13, inducting seven ministers.

TNM Staff

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Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa reshuffled the portfolios of his cabinet on January 22 after dissidence from ministers. The notification issued on Friday reads that the changes shall be applied with immediate effect. The Karnataka cabinet was reshuffled late on Wednesday night, and received Governor Vajubhai Vala’s nod on Thursday morning. Several prominent portfolios have been juggled to make way for the seven newly-inducted ministers. JC Madhuswamy who was allocated Kannada and Culture department has instead been given Hajj and Waqf portfolio. He also will oversee the Medical Education Department. Kannada and Culture was handed over to Aravind Limbavali in addition to the Forest Department. Legislator N Nagaraja (MTB) was given charge of the Municipal Administration Department after earlier being allocated the Excise Department. MTB will also overlook the work of Sugarcane Development and Directorate of Sugar under the Industries and Commerce Department.  Madhuswamy skipped an event of the Chief Minister in his home district Tumakuru, apparently upset over being divested of three key departments, while M T B Nagaraj had openly said that did not want the Excise portfolio given to him.  According to the order dated January 22, the Excise Department will now be overseen by K Gopalaiah who was earlier appointed as Minister for Horticulture and Sugarcane Development Department. The Sugar Ministry was earlier headed by Arabail Shivaram Hebbar, who will now only hold the Labour Ministry.  KC Narayana Gowda has been allotted the departments of Youth Empowerment and Sports Department and Planning, Programme Monitoring and Statistics Department. Meanwhile, R. Shankar has been allocated the Horticulture and Sericulture Departments. The Chief Minister has kept the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR), Cabinet Affairs, Finance, Bangalore Development, Energy, Intelligence from the Home Department, Infrastructure Development Department and all other unallocated portfolios to himself. Ending a long wait, Yediyurappa had expanded his 17-month-old cabinet on January 13, inducting seven ministers, but the exercise led to resentment with several aspirants expressing reservations over not being included in the ministry. Legislators Umesh Katti, Aravind Lumbavali, Nagaraju (MTB), CP Yogeshwar, R Shankar, S Angara and Murugesh Nirani were inducted into the cabinet.  With PTI inputs

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Karnataka Min K Sudhakar opposes separation of Health and Medical Edu departments

POLITICS

The Karnataka CM recently announced the division of the Health and Medical Education departments, with the latter portfolio going to JC Madhuswamy.

IANS

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In light of Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa reshuffling his cabinet and Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar being divested of the Medical Education portfolio, the miffed minister said that separating Health and Medical Education departments would affect the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the state. "Separating Health and Medical Education ministries could weaken the state's vaccination effort, as 60 per cent of district hospitals are under the latter and the remaining under the former," Sudhakar told reporters a day after the CM on Thursday hived off both departments and allocated medical education to senior cabinet minister J C Madhuswamy. The Chief Minister had earlier merged both the departments in October 2020, and gave the health portfolio to Sudhakar, who has been the Minister for Medical Education since he joined the government in February 2020. "If Health and Medical Education departments are under a single command, the vaccination drive will be effective. I will prevail upon the Chief Minister not to separate the two ministries," asserted Sudhakar, who is trained as a medical doctor. Sudhakar, who defected from the Congress and joined the ruling BJP, was re-elected from the Chikkaballapur assembly segment in the December 2019 by-elections. "Health and Medical Education departments are under one ministry in all state governments across the country except in Karnataka, where it was split for political reasons," reiterated Sudhakar. “As Health and Medical Education departments were separate, coordination suffered at the peak of Covid pandemic in the state,” he added.' Hinting that the second wave of the pandemic may come to India belatedly, Sudhakar said the two departments have to work together to prevent its spread and accelerate the vaccination drive at the same time. "I don't know what he (Yediyurappa) has in his mind. If Health and Medical Education departments don't coordinate, it will be difficult to face when the second wave of the pandemic hits us," said Sudhakar. Though Yediyurappa on Friday reshuffled portfolios of some ministers who resented the departments allocated to them on Thursday, the Medical Education portfolio remains with Madhuswamy. "It's the Chief Minister's domain to decide on portfolios. I can't tell what he should have done. I am not sticking to any portfolio. The two departments need to work together so that citizens get the vaccine," added Sudhakar.

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Three Bengaluru men dupe techies for crores by posing as fund managers

Crime

The CCB recovered real estate properties valued around Rs 8 crore and three high-end cars like BMWs and Audis from the three.

IANS

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Three men were arrested in Bengaluru by the Central Crime Branch for duping techies with high net worth. According to the CCB, the three men masqueraded as fund managers and conned the techies. The three detainees are Stephen Johns (35), Kalakere Raghavendra (34) and Manjunath (43). The CCB recovered real estate properties valued around Rs 8 crore and three high-end cars like BMWs and Audis from the three. The police further added that the accused had their own ‘share marketing company’ that was closed down by them after they carried out a series of frauds. Johns and Raghavendra targeted gullible IT professionals, said the police in the statement. “The accused looked at gullible IT professionals who also had good net worth and wanted to invest their ‘excess money’ in shares, debentures or mutual funds,” said the police while talking about the group's modus operandi. They further added that the three persons then met them and introduced themselves as share brokers or fund managers of reputed banks. The statement further clarified that the accused also used to lure the techies into taking hefty loans from private banks to invest the amount in shares. They assured them that their money invested will double in a short while, and many fell prey to the con. The police further added that to impress the gullible investors, the conmen met them at top restaurants or in the luxurious cars they owned. “Satish, a software engineer, had a while ago registered a formal complaint with Chandra Layout Police. The case was later referred to the CCB and thus began their trail. All three have been arrested and the high values real estate properties registered under their name have been seized,” the police said.

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FIR against Congress MLA Sowmya Reddy for allegedly hitting a police constable

Politics

The MLA has said that the police were manhandling her.

TNM Staff

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Jayanagar legislator Sowmya Reddy has been booked by Bengaluru police for allegedly hitting a woman police constable who was on duty during the protest by the Congress party on January 20. The FIR, filed by Upparpet police, came two days after a video clip of Sowmya engaged in an argument with a police constable went viral, where Sowmya could be seen hitting the constable on the arm.  The MLA has defended herself, saying the police were manhandling her to a point of her feeling faint. She had also filed a complaint against the police on Wednesday. The FIR against Sowmya has been filed under IPC sections 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 353 (Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any person being a public servant in the execution of his duty as such public servant). The clip had been shared by several BJP leaders, including Minister of Social Welfare B Sriramulu, who criticised Sowmya for allegedly attacking another woman who was discharging her duty. The incident took place during Congress’ protest rally on Wednesday near Freedom Park in Bengaluru. As Congress leaders and workers attempted to move towards Raj Bhavan, they were detained by the police. Many including Sowmya Reddy were allegedly roughed up by the police in a bid to detain them. The Congress legislator then took to Twitter to put out her version of the events. “Even when I was about to faint and repeatedly requested them to stop, the police kept pushing and manhandling me with excessive force. A few policemen were also using vulgar words. This happened for over 20 minutes,” alleged Sowmya. She also tendered an apology at the end of a series of tweets saying “If anyone is hurt or offended by my unintentional reaction, I apologise”.   Speaking to the media after the clip went viral after being released by a private Kannada news channel, Sowmya alleged that even as a male police officer verbally abused her, over 20 police personnel manhandled her and several other women protestors. She was pulled by her hair and saree, she said, adding that she even fell down because of the excessive force. Another Congress legislator, Dr Anjali Nimbalkar, collapsed after the protest when she was detained. 

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