Pramesh Jain

Bengaluru is witnessing a massive surge in COVID-19 infections in the second wave of the pandemic.

With the spike in deaths,crematoriums and graveyards are overflowing with bodies.

The workers at several of these facilities, however,say that they have not been paid for months and have threatened to stop operations in the coming days.

Working dawn to dusk without rest and protection,workers of the electric crematorium have threatened to stop working unless the working conditions improve.

On Thursday,they wrote to Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court seeking his intervention in the issue.  

As many as 49 bodies have been received at the Sumanahalli electric crematorium since Wednesday morning in which nine bodies are still waiting for cremation.

It takes at least one hour to cremate the body followed by cleaning and premises for the next body.The workers are exhausted because of the heat and at least two of them have injected with the covid positive since last two days.

The sad part is that one of them needed immediate hospitalization and he did not get bed in the city and has to be taken to Kolar.

The workers working round the clock and exhausted and needed rest,Amidst this people shout accused the workers of corruption,which,making the situation worse,A Suresh,state General Secretary of Dr BR Ambedkar Dalitha Sangharsha Samithi,said.

The situation is not different in other 11 crematoriums as the workers complaining that they are not getting rest and have to work under inhuman condition round the clock.

There is no system in place and its like a war zone,Suresh said adding that same situation prevails since last one week .

There is a urgent need that the BBMP officials should intervene and supervise the situation at the crematorium.

The workers at the crematoriums should get to work in at least two shift to work and to be  provided necessary protection from the agitated crowd,Mr.Suresh added .

He further said,Samithi is aware that  crematorium is part of essential service and hence the workers will not stage snap protest from the humanity perspective,but the authorities concerned should also consider the working conditions of the people at the crematoriums he added.

BBMP commissioner,Gaurav Gupta said reporters, that he was not aware that crematorium workers are unpaid.He said I will order the immediate release of salaries to them.

Ambulance Owner and Driver Arrested for demanding Rs.60k from kin of Covid-19 victim to ferry body:

The Northeast Division police of Amruthahalli police on Thursday arrested the owner of an ambulance service and a driver for demanding Rs 60,000 from the family of a covid patient .

The accused has been identified as,Hanumanthappa Singri,30,and Harish.

Senior officer told reporters,a complaint was registered by kin of victim who stated in her complaint that her Father a Covid Prasad was admitted to a private hospital in Mathikere and succumbed on Tuesday.

So to Ferry the body from Peenya to Hebbal the family contacted the ambulance to take the body in cold storage and to carry the body the next day for cremation.

The owner of Nandana Ambulance International situated near Hebbal flyover agreed for the service but demanded Rs 60,000 to be paid immediately.

Bhavya,26,daughter of the deceased who was struggling to arrange the fund,asked them to reduce the amount but the driver who had already taken the body threatened that he would dump the body on the road if money is not paid.

The patients daughter even decided to pawn her Mangalasutra or Thali to get the money and later approached the media seeking help.

With the media intervention Harish Ashwanthnarayana agreed to take Rs.16,000.

When the news spread on social media following which the Amruthahalli police inspector and team visited the firm and conducted an inquiry.

During questioning it was found that they harrased and threatened the Covid-19 kin to dump the body on road and demanded Rs.60,000.

After conducting a detailed investigation the Amruthahalli police inspector arrested the driver Hanumanthappa Singri,30 and Harish Owner of the ambulance and charged them under section 54(Punishment for false warning),of the National Disaster Management Act -2005 and also under section 384(extortion) and also under section,269,(negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life)and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease)of the IPC in Amruthahalli police station and further investigation is on he added.

Pramesh Jain

The Doddaballapur officials have registered a case against power grid officials concerned by a women who alleged that the officials cheated her to the tune of Rs.54 lakhs.

Senior officers said,the officials of the power grid corporation india limited are in the dock for allegedly cheating a woman with the compensation amount of Rs 54 lakh due to her.
Based on a complaint filed by Chenalakshmamma,55 of Allalasandra in GKVK Post,Yelahanka,the Doddaballapura rural police on Saturday registered a case against the officials concerned changing them under section cheating and forgery.

In her complaint,Chennalakshmamma said that she had ancestral agricultural land of a few acres situated in Kamaluru and Antarahalli.

The power grid corporation officials drew 765KV power lines on her land and they  sanctioned Rs 54 lakh as compensation without her knowledge.

The officials later allegedly forged the documents to withdraw the amount and cheated her.

The cheating came to light recently following which she approached the officials for confirming the amount she was entitled and sanctioned before approaching the police .

We have issued notice to the officials seeking details of the amount sanctions and details of the remittance.

Initial inquiry revealed that the officials have sanctioned the amount to the relatives of the complainant,which is the matter of the investigation,a senior police officer said.A case has been registered and investigation is on.

BENGALURU: For the third consecutive day, Karnataka beat its own dubious record of adding the highest number of fresh Covid cases to its tally. The state on Thursday saw a whopping 25,795 cases being added taking the total to 12,47,997 as against 12,22,202 on Wednesday. With this jump, the day’s positivity rate shot up to 15.87 per cent from 15.47 per cent the previous day. It marked a 2.11 per cent growth over the Wednesday tally, which is another dubious record set on Thursday.

The mortality rate, however, is showing some healthy signs as it has been steadily falling, standing at 1.11 per cent now. Health experts explain that the number of deaths is in proportion negligible to the high number of cases adding to the tally. The State Government had aimed to bring the mortality rate below 1 per cent — which has been achieved in Bengaluru at 0.90 per cent.The toll is now 13,885, up from 13,762 on Wednesday.

The troublesome part of the pandemic for the state at present is its increasing active cases, which are currently under treatment. It has risen to a whopping 1,96,236 cases and is a result of the high number of cases being added daily and considerably low numbers getting discharged. Karnataka ranks third in the highest number of active cases among states. The figure was in the 6,000s towards January-end when the state was moving out of the first wave of the pandemic.