Seva Bharathi and Lions Club had also organised another wedding of a woman who had lost her home in the landslides in Kodagu.
Lions Club of Madikeri and Seva Bharathi organised the wedding of the daughter of a family which lost their home to landslides, at Madikeri on Wednesday.
Mysuru:
Yet another family at a relief centre in disaster-hit Kodagu conducted the marriage of their daughter as scheduled on Wednesday with the support of Seva Bharathi, Lions Club of Madikeri and others.
Ranjitha, daughter of Sanjeev and Sumithra of Makkandur in Kodagu, got wedded with Ranjith, son of Madhusudan and Thangamani of Kannur, Kerala at Sri Omkareswara temple with over 300 people joining their wedding reception at Sri Narasimha Kalyana Mantapa in Madikeri.
Mr K.K. Damodar, president of Lion’s Club, Madikeri told Deccan Chronicle that Ranjitha’s family had lost their home in the landslides during the recent rains. Presently, they are housed at a relief centre in Kushalnagar. “Ranjitha’s wedding was scheduled at Makkandur on Wednesday but following the disaster, her parents had decided to cancel her wedding. But we along with Seva Bharathi decided to organise the wedding. The couple left for Kerala on Wednesday after the wedding.,” he said. Seva Bharathi and Lions Club had also organised another wedding of a woman who had lost her home in the landslides in Kodagu.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Politics / by Shilpa P, Deccan Chronicle / September 17th, 2018
Mangalore varsity to provide document copies for free, conduct special exams
Mangalore University will take a host of measures, including waiving of examination, tuition and other fees, to help college students, whose families have lost properties in the recent landslips and floods in Kodagu.
According to Kishore Kumar C.K., acting Vice-Chancellor of the university, attendance will be given to students who could not attend classes owing to the floods.
The university will give copies of education-related documents, such as marks cards, for free to those who have lost them in the floods. Special examinations will be held for students in colleges where lessons could not be completed on time.
Mr. Kumar told The Hindu that the university has provided free accommodation to students who have lost their houses, in the Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa College in Madikeri. There are 20 such students in the college now.
He said some colleges in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi have come forward to admit such students who cannot continue their present education in Kodagu thanks to road-connectivity issues. The university will approve the admission of such students.
Those education institutes have come forward to provide free hostel facility to such students.
Mr. Kumar said the university will call a meeting of principals of all 20 colleges in Kodagu on September 6 to sort out issues relating to classes, conduct of examinations and approval of admissions.
Many colleges under the university are now collecting funds to help students of Kodagu.
He said the social work students of the university will conduct field survey in Kodagu and come out with a report on measures to be taken to bring back the life to normality.
The report will be submitted to the government. The university was now collecting data of the students who have been affected. The university will conduct National Service Scheme camps in Kodagu to help in restoration activities.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangaluru / by Special Correspondent / Mangaluru – September 05th, 2018
Tashma Muthappa, an International-level Throwball player who was living in a flood relief camp along with her family has now been rehabilitated. She, along with her parents, will move to a rented accommodation in Madikeri on Monday. Also, Kodagu District Minister S.R. Mahesh has promised her a government job.
It may be recalled that Star of Mysore had published a report on Aug. 30 under the title “Floods shatter sports star’s life in Kodagu.” The report had highlighted the plight of Tashma, who brought laurels to Karnataka and India by winning national and international tournaments. First she was forced to give up her sporting career and take up a data entry job to support her family and second, her house was destroyed in floods and landslides.
Tashma’s house, built just one-and-a-half-years back in Second Monnangeri at Madikeri was washed away and all her medals, certificates and hard-earned money were lost. 23-year-old Tashma was to get married in December but now her wedding has been postponed to April next year as the jewellery worth Rs. 3.5 lakh too were swept away.
Following the publication of the report that was widely shared in social media, help started pouring in to Tashma and her family. They will move to a fully-furnished house at Kannika Layout near Madikeri Race Course Road on Sept. 3. Singapore Kodava Samaja has sponsored Rs. 50,000 to be paid as advance to the house and has also sponsored the monthly rent of Rs. 10,000 for one year.
The Singapore Art of Living team has sponsored utensils, food, fuel and other requirements to the family and Chandrashekar and friends have volunteered to look after the day-to-day needs of the family till it can sustain on its own.
Meeting Tashma, Kodagu District Minister S.R. Mahesh has assured her that he will secure her a government job.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / September 01st, 2018
Meanwhile, 23 more people from relief centres returned home as Kodagu continued to receive light rainfall on Saturday. Dr Pennekar Superintendent of Police, Kodagu.
Mysuru:
As Kodagu limps back to normalcy after its recent floods and landslides that claimed several lives and left the coffee land in distress, the district has two women officers, Deputy Commissioner P.I. Srividya and Superintendent of Police Suman D. Pennekar to thank for the pivotal roles they played in restoring order. Working with 1,200 personnel of different agencies, and officers from different departments, they helped in rescuing 4,300 people stranded as a result of the natural disaster that created havoc in the coffee plantations and buried hundreds of homes under mud and debris of landslides.
On Saturday, a team of 338 DySP and PSI probationeries of the Karnataka Police Academy (KPA) led by its director, Vipul Kumar, visited Kodagu and talked to Dr Pennekar about the Kodagu police’s handling of the situation. For the 33 -year -old police officer, who is an ayurvedic doctor and a 2013 batch IPS officer, Kodagu is her first assignment as SP and she had reported for duty in the district when the monsoon was at its peak, on July 15.
“I have not seen the sun shine since I came to Kodagu. It has been a huge experience, which will last me for the next ten years,” said Dr Pennekar, speaking to Deccan Chronicle.
Recalling the rescue operation, she said 160 policemen and officers from Kodagu helped the rescuers at the ground level. “I got 100 additional police men every day from other districts in the southern range for VIP security. We also got 15 officers of different ranks each day from different districts of the southern range for patrolling. A 100 home guards were posted at the check post and relief centres. All senior officers, including DG Neelamani supported me in handling the situation,” she added.
Meanwhile, 23 more people from relief centres returned home as Kodagu continued to receive light rainfall on Saturday.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / by Shilpa P, Deccan Chronicle / September 02nd, 2018
The Foundation, which is 22 years old now, has dealt with 10 natural disasters, Mrs Murty recounts. Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty helps pack relief material for flood-hit Kerala and Kodagu
Bengaluru:
“It’s easy to write a cheque,” declares Sudha Murthy. Far more difficult to dive into the work itself, packing bags and working through the night to personally supervise loading the trucks, as the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation, the company’s philanthropic wing and the city’s conscience keeper found when she threw herself full time into helping the hundreds of the displaced in flood-affected Kodagu and neighbouring Kerala.
Only last week, Mrs Murty found herself lavished with praise from all quarters, after a video of relief kits being prepared at the Foundation went viral. In the video, Mrs Murty doesn’t content herself with overseeing the job, she’s seen actively lending a hand, helping pack 2,000 relief kits which contain everything from rice and dal to biscuits, packaged water, tea and coffee as well as dhotis and sarees, and clothes for children.
“It’s been two weeks of non-stop The kits, which are worth over Rs one crore in total, were sent to Wayanad, Ernakulam and parts of Thiruvananthapuram in four trucks. Flood-hit Kodagu received 25,000 water bottles, steel utensils, buckets and mug, sent to families, slowly returning to normal life in their ravaged homes.
“It’s been two weeks of non-stop work,” an evidently weary Mrs Murty tells Deccan Chronicle on Thursday. “We worked through the night for four or five days, then we crashed for a while.” Twenty of their most dependable staff have been entrusted with the job.
“Too many people will bring down the efficiency,” she says. The 68-year-old author and philanthropist has always maintained a hands-on approach to her social work. The Foundation, which is 22 years old now, has dealt with 10 natural disasters, Mrs Murty recounts. “It needs a lot of experience, really,” she says.
The Infosys Foundation tapped into a vast network of contacts, including the Akshaya Patra Foundation, to help with distribution, which is their biggest worry. The kits have been designed to ensure that they can be distributed to every family with a minimum of discomfort. “We have volunteers on the ground in Kerala as well, for which we looked to our network,” she says. It’s a network she has built, painstakingly, over the last two decades.
“There are three parts to this. Deciding what to send, how to send it there and the distribution process,” Ms Murty said. In Bengaluru, all the action took place at the Bellaku campus. “We have chosen necessities like utensils, clothes, sanitary napkins, tea and coffee apart from food like rice and toor dal and also biscuits. All these are ready for delivery and have been chosen because they can be stored and can withstand the rain in the area. If I send 10 kilos of rice in bulk, who wil see to the distribution?” Work has been happening in full swing for the last two weeks and will come to an end on Saturday.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / by Darshana Ramdev, Deccan Chronicle / August 31st, 2018
A group of Bengaluru-based young professionals trekked through the flood-ravaged Kodagu to reach a remote village near Madikeri in order to deliver relief material.
Bhavan Bopanna, an IT professional, along with his friends, set out to help the people of Kodagu.
They learnt that Kaloor, a remote village, had become inaccessible.
They walked 6 km to reach the village.
“When we drove our jeep through the roads, it was heartening to see an old couple carrying some relief materials on their head. Later when we reached the village, we found that over 45 families had not received any relief material for over a week,” he added.
As they could not reach the village in their jeep, they trekked for almost 6 km carrying the relief material.
According to Bopanna, most of the families were middle class and had a small property for themselves and they do not wish to stay at relief camps.
“These villagers only wanted to some rice, dal and oil so that they could cook for themselves. But the procedure to get relief is cumbersome.
A few villagers who managed to visit a few relief camps were made to run around and were not given their due by the authorities,” added Bopanna.
He said people from the village that he visited wanted food for their cattle and dogs. But somewhere, the government has not able to understand people’s requirement.
The group not only delivered the relief material, but also picked up trash on the way to ensure that no plastic was left behind.
Now, a Whatsapp group ‘Kodagu for Tomorrow’ with around 45 members are pitching in to help the people recover and rehabilitate.
Following the footsteps of some natives of Kerala in Bengaluru, youngsters are being mobilised in Kodagu also well.
Bhavan wants youngsters to come forward to pick the waste and process them.
Coming to the rescue of children across Kodagu who have lost their textbooks in landslides and floods, the state government on Wednesday ordered free distribution of textbooks.
DH had reported on the government’s decision to replace the textbooks inits edition dated August 22.
The Karnataka Text Book Society issued a direction to the DDPI, Kodagu, on Monday, to distribute textbooks free of cost to the children of Kodagu. “As students of the districts have lost their books in the floods, the BEOs of every block in Kodagu are hereby directed to distribute free books to all the children,” the order said.
The Karnataka Text Book Society has already supplied 33,980 textbooks on Saturday compared to the required 34,270 textbooks.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> States> Top Karnataka News / by Niranjan K N , DH News Service / August 29th, 2018
The team of doctors from Bengaluru attend to a patient at a relief camp in Kodagu.
A team of Bengaluru-based medical professionals hopped in a car and headed to Kodagu last week, where they treated hundreds of people affected by recent flooding.
The most common ailments that they encountered included minor orthopaedic injuries, diarrhoea, cough, cold, fever, and stomach ache.
Many of the patients were already suffering from mental illnesses.
“Most of the patients have psychosomatic disorder. They need counselling,” said Dr Sunil Kumar Hebbi, organiser of the medical relief mission and founder of the social initiative, Matru Siri Foundation.
One such patient, Hebbi explained, had lost her house, cow, and job—her employer’s coffee estate had suffered severe damage. She cried frequently.
Doctors Deepak Vastrad, Harsha Attibele, and Pradeep also participated in the mission, along with Anamika Kumari, who assisted the doctors and offered counselling services.
“They were in a state of shock. Kids were badly affected, the situation led to mental and physical agony and trauma,” Dr Hebbi told the DH. “Our counselling was intended to cheer them up—to make them talk freely with us, thus to be out of panic, bring confidence among them to return to normal life, giving hope to children to go back to school as early as possible. It was great support to women who were shy to come out to express their feelings and personal needs.”
The small crew began their journey last Monday, when they visited three relief camps at government schools in and around Kushalnagar. On Tuesday, they stopped by two camps at Suntikoppa—Saint Mary Church and Jamia Masjid. The doctors visited one more camp at Rudra Layout in Kushalnagara on Wednesday.
While his team arrived armed with hundreds of various medications, Hebbi told DH that their greatest challenge was lack of proper blood sugar medications.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> States> Top Karnataka News / by Grace Hanuck, DH News Service / August 29th, 2018
Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan of India celebrate after winning the Asian Games doubles gold against Aleksandr Bublik and Denis Yevseyev of Kazakhstan. l
Rohan Bopanna fought a wave of emotions as the Indian flag went up to the tune of the National anthem in the background. Even as he and Divij Sharan soaked in the maiden Asian Games gold triumph, his thoughts flew to home district Kodagu, which has been ravaged by floods. The 38-year-old dedicated his medal to the flood victims.
“I am really happy we could deliver a gold for India. I think more than me winning the gold medal it is sending a big, positive message from Palembang to Coorg. Everyday I have been talking to my parents, friends, seen so many people going through such hard times.
“I dedicate this medal to them, to all those who are constantly giving support. That’s why I was flooded with emotions when the national anthem was playing,” Bopanna told DH.
Bopanna was happy the way he and Divij stuck through the tough quarterfinal and semifinal matches before prevailing over Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Bublik and Denis Yevseyev in the final.
“The way Divij has been playing this entire year, we were confident. He is a very positive person on the court. But having said that with the format of no ad scoring and super-tie breaks you never know. We played a couple of teams which you play regularly on Challengers and a few on ATP circuit. It can always get tricky. But I am really glad that we just focused on one match, and one particular opponent,” he said.
Divij, who won his second Asian Games medal, was equally thrilled. “It was very special to win, I have never experienced something like this. I have been putting in a lot of hard work and this year has been really good for me.”
Speaking on their chemistry, the 32-year-old Delhi boy said: “Rohan and I have known each other for a long time, we have both been employed at Indian Oil and have practised quite a lot together. We came through tough matches to the final which gave us the confidence and we settled into each other’s style. In the final we played the deuce points well.”
New doubles pair?
While none would comment on the last-minute pull out of Leander Paes, the two were eager to be paired up together for Davis Cup. “If we are asked to play together then nothing like it. We will surely play whenever we get the opportunity, we have combined well and done well together. So why not? I don’t see a reason why we would not play,” Bopanna admitted.
The next stop for them is the US Open as the two rushed to the airport shortly after the victory ceremony. Until then they can bask under the gleam of a hard-earned gold.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Sports> Asian Games 2018 / by Pragya Tiwari, DH News Service, New Delhi / August 24th, 2018
Sandalwood has come together to help the state of Coorg and its people.
Harshika Poonacha.
“It’s a very painful scenario at relief camps across the flood hit areas of Coorg with conditions at its worst ever,” explains actress Harshika Poonacha, who hails from the beautiful land of Kodagu, which is now facing the wrath of incessant rain after Kerala. The affected people of Kodagu have taken care of so many people in their lives, and fed so many people but today they are so dependent on others, she adds, of the land which has given its best to the nation, be it with the Army or other unique and versatile professions in various fields including sports, culture and tradition, and of course tourism, with a fine blend of their trademark coffee. Coorg is crying for help. And Sandalwood has taken it upon itself to help in the relief work. The film industry has been up and about, lending a helping hand, individually, and inspiring fans to aid in these difficult times. While several artistes, technicians, filmmakers and producers are donating towards flood relief activities, they are now propagating to rebuild Kodagu, and efforts are on to reconstruct an entire village which is badly affected by the floods. Bengaluru Chronicle reports.
“I am here (Kodagu) for the past four days now. The condition is bad. It is very painful to relate to the ground reality. I was serving food the other day, and people were in tears while they got food served,” Harshika shares her experience with a heavy heart, adding that these are people who would not have stayed in their relative’s place even for a day, but they are now staying in relief camps as they are helpless against the fury of nature.
One of the favourite locations for not just the Kannada film industry, but numerous other film industries as well, the Scotland of the south is definitely a favourite amongst filmmakers. While several leading men from Sandalwood have been donating money for relief work, most of them are helping in their personal capacities and facilitating the supply of basic needs like food and water to different areas.
Actress Sanjjanaa Galrani, who left for Coorg on Tuesday to volunteer and help the needy, says, “More and more youngsters should step out of their homes and head to Coorg, to physically help them, rather than just sit at home and pray,” she implores.
No doubt movies and movie stars are among the most effective when it comes to inspiring the public, especially younger minds to follow their footsteps, and they are being urged towards this good cause by many in the industry.
Abhinaya Chakravarthy Kiccha Sudeep, urges his fans, “I request all my fan associations to please look into what best could be done for the rain-affected areas in Karnataka. This is the best gift you all will be giving me. Please, please do your best. These are our people.” he said.
Meanwhile, Crazy Star V Ravichandran has proposed a long-term plan which the entire film industry has backed. He is pressing to turn this initiative into reality. During the mahurat of his new movie, Ravichandra, the Crazy Star declared that the whole industry should come forward and help rebuild Kodagu. “It is best to rebuild an entire village which is badly affected by the floods,” he said, and prominent personalities including Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar, Kiccha Sudeep, Yash, renowned producers have backed this plea.
Even several actress including those hailing from Coorg such as Rashmika Mandanna, Disha Poovaiah, and almost other leading ladies are doing their best. Let us all help and rebuild Kodagu, is Sandalwood’s call for help to pour in to support this wonderful land which is in dire need of relief.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Entertainment> Sandalwood / by ShashPrasad SM / August 22nd, 2018
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