From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Feb 14: Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Monday, February 14 warmly applauded the "effective management" of the Covid pandemic by the Basavaraj Bommai government “resulting in comparatively less fatalities than in other parts of the world.”

In his address to the 10-day-long joint session of State Legislature, the Governor said the State was able to curtail the death rate during the COVID-19 pandemic due to effective management of the health crisis.

“Karnataka won the E-governance award for its effective COVID-19 management using technology. The State relied on five Ts — Testing, Tracing, Tracking, Treatment and Technology,” the Governor said.

The vaccination drive was carried out at 6,000 centres and 9.33 crore doses were given to the eligible population. The State succeeded in giving 100 per cent first dose and 85 per cent second dose. Over six crore tests were carried out, Gehlot said in his 28-page address to members of both Houses of the legislature.

“Different fields like management of COVID war room, tele-medicine, patient management and home isolation management has been handled effectively by the government with the usage of advanced technology. Due to our interventions, Karnataka has been able to curtail the death rate,” the Governor said.

The Governor was all praise for the State Government’s handling of the Covid third wave and said the State managed to cope with the situation by increasing the oxygen production and the government is utilising the Rs 840 crore grant effectively for providing necessary emergency facilities.

Karnataka ranked Second in Tele-medicine

The State ranked second among all the states in the country in terms of telemedicine- based health services under the National Health Mission. The health crisis has been utilized in a positive manner to effectively implement Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Atma Nirbar Bharat by enhancing the State's capacity and health infrastructure, the Governor said.

Karnataka is the first state to implement the new National Education Policy and spoke about various welfare schemes, mining policy, enhancing infrastructure and transport facilities in Bengaluru and other parts of the State, irrigation projects and power projects.

Referring to issues of farmers, the Governor said Rs 960.99 crore were paid to 48 lakh farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana in 2021-22 and another Rs 1,253 crore were paid to 18 lakh farmers through direct benefit transfer under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).

He also spoke on the devastating floods that battered certain parts of Karnataka last year and said the State Government opened 496 relief centres for 1,38,504 flood affected people. The government also paid Rs 10,000 as an instant relief amount to each of the flood hit families. The State gave a total of Rs 85.86 crore to 85,862 families. The government also paid Rs 135.73 crore to those whose houses were damaged.

Congress MLAs, MLCs wear black bands

Opposition Congress party legislators attended the join session wearing black bands on their arms as a mark of protest against Bommai government’s inept handling of the hijab row and also as a protest against Narendra Modi government’s rejection of the Kerala government’s tableau on social reformer Sri Narayana Guru for the Republic Day parade.

Sri Narayana Guru is revered not only in Kerala but in the coastal Karnataka, especially by the Billava community.

“We are wearing the black bands as a protest against the BJP government’s bad handling of the hijab issue and allowing lumpen elements to disrupt the classes in educational institutions by wearing saffron shawls. The entire controversy was mishandled by the government as part of the ruling BJP’s attempts to engineer religious polarization,” Congress opposition leader Siddaramaiah said.

Siddaramaiah also condemned Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa for his recent statement that a time will come when saffron flag will be hoisted at the Red Fort, which is meant for hoisting the national flag.