Regional

Chennai, Sep 3 (IANS) Chennai-based private hospital MGM Healthcare is exploring ways to use drones for transporting organs for transplantation, said Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.

The Union Transport Minister was speaking via video conferencing during a function organised to mark over 500 successful heart and lung transplant operations at the MGM Healthcare.

Gadkari said that the construction of highways is reducing the travel time between various cities like Chennai-Bengaluru which will be of help for organ transportation.

Meanwhile, Prashanth Rajagopalan, Director MGM Healthcare said that the hospital is looking at using drones to transport organs from the Chennai Airport to the hospital.

According to him, currently the organs for transplant operations are transported by road from the Chennai Airport by creating a green corridor with the help of the city police.

He said that this put the public at some inconvenience and hence the hospital is looking at drones as alternative for carrying human organs from other cities.

According to Rajagopalan, the hospital has tied up with a city-based drone company while declining to mention the latter's name, citing a non-disclosure agreement with that player.

Hospital officials said transport of human organs for transplant operation is in vogue in some foreign countries. And in India, permission from the government authorities have to be obtained.

They also said the box containing the human organ for transplant will weigh about nine kgs and drones can easily lift them.

Speaking at the function Tamil Nadu's Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ma. Subramanian said that the state is the pioneer and the leader in organ transplantation.

Subramanian also said that the state government will take steps to create necessary facilities in all its hospitals to carry out organ transplantation surgery.

--IANS
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Shivamogga (Karnataka), Sep 3 (IANS) The ruling BJP will not interfere in the investigation of rape case involving prominent Lingayat seer Dr Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, State Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said on Saturday.

"Police are acting as per the requirements of law. They are carrying out the court's directions. The case involving Murugha seer is sub judice. Will not talk much about it," he stated.

Additional security has been provided to the Murugha mutt of Chitradurga, he said, adding that seven platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) have been deputed on the premises, he said.

The ruling BJP was alleged of exerting pressure on the system, including the police, not to initiate action against the accused in rape of minors. Action was initiated only on the sixth day after the filing of an FIR.

Maintaining that it is the investigators' prerogative to arrest or not to arrest the accused in the POCSO case, the police neither issued a notice nor bothered to question the seer.

Spot mahajar was conducted by the police in the mutt with the minor girls belonging to the oppressed class at a time when the accused seer was present in the mutt. After the arrest, without the court's permission, the accused seer was shifted to a hospital and all preparations were made to admit him to a Bengaluru hospital.

Noting the developments, the court rapped and questioned the prosecution on Friday and gave directions towards not giving any preferential treatment to accused seer before handing him over to the police custody.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Sep 3 (IANS) Former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who has been brought to the forefront by the BJP high command ahead of assembly elections in Karnataka, on Saturday claimed that he will ensure thumping victory for the saffron party.

Yediyurappa, who has been nominated to the party's highest decision-making bodies, the Parliamentary Board and the Election Committee at the national level, was seen sharing dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the frontline in Mangaluru on Friday.

During Prime Minister Modi's last visit to Bengaluru and Mysuru cities, Yediyurappa was only seen at the airport receiving him and could not be seen anywhere during his two-day visit on the occasion of celebration of International Yoga Day.

Sources in the BJP said that this time, seating arrangements were made as per the wishes of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Modi was seen holding hands of Yediyurappa at the time of his arrival and talking to him dearly.

Yediyurappa told Prime Minister Modi that he would meet him after the public rally. However, the Prime Minister took him to the rally and ensured he sat in the frontline, the sources added.

Yediyurapppa attended the government function without an invitation and protocol was also sidelined. He was seated next to the Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot.

Speaking to reporters in Shivamogga, Yediyurappa said, "I will travel the length and breadth of the state and ensure victory for the party in upcoming assembly elections in 140 seats," he stated.

Yediyurappa further stated that, "Prime Minister Modi has set a target of winning 140 seats out of 224 assembly constituencies in the state. Prime Minister Modi has told us that he would also arrive for campaigning. We will form a government in the state after the next assembly elections in 2023."

He also announced that he would organise a rally of 1 lakh people in Shivamogga in a short time after discussion with party leaders.

"Prime Minister Modi has told us that he would visit the state once in a month in the coming days. We will invite Modi Ji," Yediyurappa said.

The Central leadership is listening to Yediyurappa's strategies for the upcoming assembly polls in the state.

The response of the huge crowd in the form of clappings, whistling and celebrations, whenever Yediyurappa's name was mentioned at the Prime Minister's rally was testimonial to his popularity in the state.

When Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's name was called out, the crowd was silent and even during his speech, he did not get any attention from the crowd, the sources added.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 3 (IANS) Director Aishwarya Rajinikanth, who is busy penning the script of her next project, seems to be relishing the task. Taking to Instagram, the director wrote at length about the process of creating a script.

She said: "The evolution of a script is true magic. From the time the pen touches the paper...the first draft, then the second, the third."

"When you think it's ready to be typed, then additions and changes, you think you are ready to print the typed version, when you see the first spiral version of it! "How through time you see the shades of paper and yet you don't feel like throwing a single sheet away. Every time you read it, your work feels new and you want to improve.

"The journey is worth it when you think it's ready to be read...yet the writing never ends and a script can never be stopped writing until the day of shoot! #writerslife #lovemyjob #fridaymood"

Aishwarya, who earlier this year had announced that she parted ways with her husband Dhanush, will be making a return to direction with her maiden Hindi film, 'Oh Saathi Chal'.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Sep 3 (IANS) Two cab drivers have been arrested for gang-raping a woman on the pretext of dropping her to a church in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

The arrested have been identified as 25-year-old G Akshilesh from Ballary and 21-year-old J L Deepu from Hassan.

In her complaint to police, the 25-year-old victim said that on Thursday, she was walking towards church in Ejipura when the accused offered her lift to the place of worship.

However, instead of church, they took her to an isolated place near Huskur, stripped her and gang-raped her. The accused also kept her in captivity. The victim somehow managed to escape from there in the darkness and took shelter behind the bushes for entire night, police said.

Early on Friday morning, the victim managed to reach a nearby house and requested for clothes. After managing to get them, she reached straight to Viveknagar police station where police lodged an FIR and arrested the accused.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Sep 2 (IANS) Noted journalist and founder-editor of the People's Archive of Rural India, P. Sainath, has decided to return the award and cash prize given to him by rape accused Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru on Friday.

Sainath's announcement came after a court in Karnataka on Friday sent the Chitradurga mutt seer accused of raping minor girls to police custody till September 5.

Sainath has written a letter in this regard to the Chitradurga mutt and appreciated the efforts of 'Odanadi', an NGO which exposed the scandal by supporting the minor victims.

"I am most disturbed to learn from media reports of the appalling developments involving the pontiff of the Shri Murughamath in Chitradurga, Shri Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru.

"He now faces a case and charges under the POCSO and SC/ST Act for alleged sexual abuse of children, specifically high school girls. No words are strong enough to condemn any such offences against children," Sainath wrote in the letter.

"In solidarity with the survivors and with the cause of justice in this case, I hereby return the Basavashree award (and the Rs 5 lakh prize money that came with it, by cheque) conferred on me by the Math in 2017.

"I would like to record my appreciation of the efforts of the Mysuru-based NGO 'Odanadi' to bring the awful incidents to light and their decades-long fight against social evils.

"I appeal to the Karnataka government to pursue the investigation into the scandal vigorously and not allow that to be compromised on any grounds whatsoever," Sainath added.

The letter has gone viral on social media with netizens appreciating Sainath's decision.

--IANS
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Chitradurga, (Karnataka) Sep 2 (IANS) A local court here on Friday hauled up the police for shifting Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, accused of raping minor girls,
to hospital without its permission.

The II Additional District and Sessions' court in Chitradurga also asked the jailer to immediately produce the accused. Following the orders, the authorities are preparing to produce the accused seer before the judge from the hospital.

Sharanaru is being treated for developing heart complications in the ICU of Chitradurga District Hospital. The doctors said that he will be shifted to a Bengaluru hospital for additional treatment.

While looking into the police's petition seeking five-day custody of the seer for investigation, the court asked why the accused was not presented before the court.

At this, the prosecution maintained that the accused seer is in the hospital. Objecting to this, the court questioned why did the prosecution not seek the it's permission in this regard. Though the prosecution sought permission for presenting the accused through video conferencing, the court refused.

With this development, chances of accused seer being shifted to Bengaluru hospital have become bleak, say sources.

The accused seer was arrested on Thursday night and he is being handed over to judicial custody by the local court. He faces charges under the POCSO and SC, ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. The Bengaluru court has issued an arrest warrant against him in a misappropriation of property case.

--IANS
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Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 2 (IANS) Hundreds of newly-hatched Indian Cormorant chicks were killed and numerous eggs destroyed when a tree was felled for widening of the National Highway in Kerala's Malappuram district.

The Kerala Forest Department has initiated a legal action against the "guilty" contractor.

Indian Cormorant (known as Neerkaka in Malayalam) comes under Schedule 4 of Indian Wildlife Protection Act.

Expressing their ire, scores of locals gathered at the location where the chicks were lying dead.

"The Forest department officials owe us an answer on how this happened. The breeding season of these birds takes place between June and November and it is rather unfortunate that at the peak of the breeding season, this happened," the angry locals said. Better sense should have prevailed, they added.

Directing strict action against the guilty, State Public Works Minister P.A.Mohammed Riyas has sought an explanation from the National Highway Authority of India officials on the incident.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 2 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin will be meeting his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister is reaching Kerala to participate in the South Indian Chief Ministers' conference, also being attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The discussions between the two Chief Ministers will be mainly centred around Siruvani and Mullaperiyar water sharing issues.

Located inside deep forests in Palakkad district of Kerala, the Siruvani dam is a major source of drinking water for the people of Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu.

Notably, after the 2019 floods in Kerala, the state water resources department has been maintaining water levels below the Full Reservoir Level (FRL). The Kerala irrigation department has been maintaining the water level of Siruvani dam at 44 ft since 2019 instead of 49.5 ft which is the water level agreed between Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Lowering of water level by five feet will lead to a shortage of 122.05 mcft (million cubic feet) which is 19 per cent of the storage capacity of the dam.

The Water level in Siruvani dam has gone up following incessant rains in the catchment areas of the dam and on Thursday the water level touched 43.5 ft and Coimbatore receives 101.4 MLD of water from Siruvani. However once the water level touches 44 ft, the water will be discharged.

Sources in the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department told IANS that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister will take this matter up with his Kerala counterpart and try to convince him of the necessity of maintaining the FRL of Siruvani dam so that drinking water for Coimbatore is not affected.

Mullaperiyar dam issue which is again a contentious one between Kerala and Tamil Nadu will also come for discussion during the meeting between the two Chief Ministers.

--IANS
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