Brahmavar: Two persons were killed and two injured in a lorry-car collision at Heranje village coming under the Brahmavar police station limits on Sunday.

According to the Brahmavar police, the car was travelling from Hebri to Brahmavar; the lorry was travelling in the opposite direction when the collision took place at Heranje Cross.

The impact of the collision was such that two occupants of the car, Muralidhar Kamath (28) and his mother Vijaya Kamath (53) were killed on the spot.

Two other occupants, Amrita Bhat and her four-year-old son Amol, were injured and admitted to the KMC Hospital in Manipal. Rash and negligent driving by the lorry driver is said to be the cause of the accident.

He met in a road accident two months back was fighting for his life.  He was seriously injured when other car hit his car from back while Wilson was driving his car.

Wilson leaves behind his wife Prameela, three  small children Viol, Grenwel, Nathanel, Father Jerome Crasta,  Brothers Benedict, Peter, Nelson, Sisters Florine, Prescilla, Daizy,Felcy & Nirmala and number of relatives and well wishers.

The Funeral will be held at Native place Padukone. The date & time will be announced later.

Contact: Richard D’Almeida, Dammam: 966-56-825555 / Nelson Crasta, Jeddah: 966-503-680519
             Prameela Crasta: 91-9964-514289

Udupi: The Puttige Math performed the “Chapara Muhurta” at Rajangana here on Thursday. It is the last preliminary to the next Paryaya festival. The rituals were performed by the chief priest Gopalakrishna Samaga in front of the Gita Mandira. General Secretary of the Paryaya Reception Committee Heranje Krishna Bhat, scholar P. Sripati Tantri, President of Malpe Fishermen’s Association Keshav Kotian, trustee of Udupi Consumers’ Forum A.P. Kodancha, and others were present on the occasion.

Udupi: Vishwesha Tirtha Swamiji of Pejawar Math said on Thursday that he was trying to solve the problem of worshipping of Lord Krishna by Sugunendra Tirtha Swamiji of Puttige Math in a harmonious manner, but the media had portrayed him as a villain of the piece.

Addressing presspersons here, Vishwesha Tirtha rebutted, point by point, all allegations that had appeared in the media, including newspapers and television channels. He made it clear that the swamis of all the seven Ashta Maths had only appealed to Sugunendra Tirtha not to worship Lord Krishna during the Paryaya of Puttige Math, beginning from January 18, 2008. But the media had portrayed it as if he had issued an order. The Puttige seer was free to accept or reject the appeal. But he was confident that a just solution would be found for the problem.

The Pejawar seer said that he was studying the religious texts to see if there was any way to bail the Puttige seer out of the present problem. He said that at no stage did he say that the Puttige seer should not ascend the Paryaya Peetha. But that the Puttige seer should not worship Lord Krishna at the sanctum sanctorum of Sri Krishna Temple/Math as religious texts did not permit travelling and staying in foreign countries. “It is not possible to behave in a manner that is detrimental to the Mahabharata, Vishnu Purana, Brihadaranyka Upanishad and other religious texts,” he said.

Vishwesha Tirtha said that if such a practice was permitted, he feared that the day would not be far away when the seers of Ashta Maths would be on foreign tours for 14 years and would return to Udupi only during their Paryaya. Hence, it was necessary for the seers to follow traditional rules.

He was confident that the issue would be solved by the seers of the Ashta Maths because “we are all brothers”. He said that no problem would arise if the Puttige seer anointed a junior seer.

Udupi: Preparations are on at a brisk pace for the 74th All India Kannada Sahitya Sammelan to be held in Udupi from December 12 to December 15.

Nearly 80 per cent of the work on the two mantapas at the venue has been completed. The beautification of the mantapas has been taken up. The main entrance to the venue at the ALN Rao Grounds has been constructed on the Udupi-Manipal Road. The process of asphalting the roads leading to the venue is nearing completion.

Nearly 500 stalls for books and 100 commercial stalls have been set up at the venue. Ten stalls have been set aside for service purposes such as telecommunications, water supply, police, information and other basic facilities.

Speaking to The Hindu here on Thursday, president of the Udupi District Kannada Sahitya Parishat and general secretary of the reception committee Uppunda Chandrashekhar Holla said that these stalls would be grouped under the names of various dynasties such as Kadamba, Hoysala, Chalukya and Vijaynagara.

As many as 30 casual telephones had been sanctioned by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited for the sammelan.

The reception committee has made staying arrangements for 2,000 VIPs and litterateurs. Dormitory facilities would be created at schools, colleges, hostels and marriage halls for 20,000 persons. The reception committee recently urged people in Udupi to host some senior litterateurs in their houses. “This ‘Gruha Aathitya’ scheme has received tremendous response and nearly 90 persons have shown interest,” Mr. Holla said.

As regards food, arrangements have been made to provide breakfast and dinner for 25,000 people every day, while lunch would be provided to 50,000 people.

Udupi: A Soldier’s War Memorial will be inaugurated here on Friday by MLC V.S. Acharya.

Speaking to presspersons here, president of the Ex-Servicemen Forum Association Chandrashekhar Suvarna said that the war memorial had been built at a cost of Rs. 3 lakh at Ajjarkad here.

The district administration had provided the land for the construction of the memorial. A procession would be taken out by ex-servicemen in the city before the inaugural function on that day, he said.

A view of the Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Ayurveda in Udupi.

Udupi: The Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara (SDM) College of Ayurveda is celebrating its golden jubilee this year.

The college, affiliated to the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), Bangalore, offers BAMS course.

It has an annual intake of 75 students. It also offers postgraduate course in nine disciplines of Ayurveda with an annual intake of 41 scholars.

The college is involved in research activities at various levels. It also conducts short-term courses for foreign students. It is conducting short-term re-orientation courses in “Panchakarma” for practicing physicians.

It was on July 1, 1958, that Sri Sugunendra Thirtha Swamiji of Puttige Math had inaugurated the then Udupi Ayurveda College (now called the SDM College of Ayurveda).

The college was sponsored by the Karnataka Ayurveda Sangha. Since then the college progressed gradually to make a name for itself. The college was earlier offering a diploma course in Ayurveda.

The Government gave permission to the college to start a graduation course in Ayurveda in 1968.

In 1974, a 50-bed hospital was started attached to the Ayurveda college. The Karnataka Ayurveda Seva Sangha was merged with Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Educational Society (SDMES) in 1979. After the merger, the college has seen rapid strides.

A folklore research unit was started in the college on the initiative of Veerendra Heggade in 1985. The unit has been actively documenting and researching folk remedies from all over the State. A new hospital building with all diagnostic facilities was opened in 1994.

A full-fledged modernised Ayurvedic pharmacy, the SDM Ayurveda Pharmacy, was established in the college in 1997. The pharmacy produces a wide range of authentic and quality Ayurvedic medicines which are utilised in the hospital and also marketed.

Addressing presspersons here on Monday, college principal U.N. Prasad said that as part of the golden jubilee celebrations, a new Mathrushri Rathnamma Memorial Building would be inaugurated by the founder of Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, S.S. Badrinath, on December 14, while MLC V.S. Acharya would inaugurate the Bhava Prakash Auditorium.

Vice-chancellor of RGUHS P.S. Prabhakar would inaugurate an international conference in Shalya, Shalakya, and Prasooti Tantra titled “Soushruthi – 2007”.

Vice-president of SDMES S. Prabhakar will inaugurate the golden jubilee celebrations the same day. A number of seminars and workshops would be held during the golden jubilee year, he said.

Udupi: People living on the site where the 1,015-MW coal-based Nagarjuna thermal power project is coming up at Yellur and members of the Nagarjuna Virodhi Horata Samiti staged a protest in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Tuesday demanding that their grievances be redressed.

Members of the affected families, such as Lakshmi Multi and Gopi Pujarti, and members of the samiti said Nagarjuna Power Corporation Ltd (NPCL) had restricted the movement of the people living on the project site. The civil works being carried out by the company was throwing up a lot of dust. They could not even sleep as work continued at night. They asked Deputy Commissioner V. Ponnuraj to come and see for himself the circumstances in which they were living.

The Deputy Commissioner told them that he had very little powers to intervene, as the matter was before the court. This did not pacify the agitators. If we cannot turn to you, whom should we turn to, they asked.

There were heated exchanges between the members of the affected families and the samiti, and Mr. Ponnuraj.

The Deputy Commissioner turned to the chairman of the executive committee of the samiti, Vijaykumar Hegde, and said, “You are misleading these people.”

In the midst of all this, Gopi Pujarti fell at the feet of the Deputy Commissioner urging him to do something about the situation at Yellur. “Please help us,” she said.

Later Mr. Ponnuraj told presspersons that he would ask the police to conduct an inquiry on the restriction of the movement of the seven families living within the project site at Yellur. “The inquiry will be conducted at the earliest. But I will not comment on any issue that is pending with the courts,” he said.

When it was pointed out that the members of the affected families had no trust in the police, the Deputy Commissioner said, “We have a certain system, we have to follow it.”

He agreed that restriction of the movement of people was a violation of their fundamental rights. According to information he had, the NPCL had only restricted the mass movement of people and not the movement of individuals, he said.

NPCL had got permission to carry on with its work at Yellur. Of the 51 families living on the project site, 44 had left and seven were still living there, Mr. Ponnuraj said.

The members of the affected families and the samiti submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner seeking immediate action on the matter.

Kundapur, Dec 4: K C Rajesh, lecturer, Nada ITI College and vice-president of Udupi District Association of Journalists has been appointed by the central government as the member of NCVT for a period of three years.

He is considered to be the first appointee of the state to the prestigious Central Council by virtue of his technical education.

Oscar Fernandes, central labour minister was pleased to recommend the name of KC Rajesh to be on the NCVT.

Rajesh has been working for Nada ITI College as a lecturer, for the State Association of ITI employees as a vice-president and also for the District Association of ITI principals as a chief secretary.

The Central council for vocational training is made up for members such as vice-president, district journalist association, chief secretary, taluk journalists association, correspondent, Navodaya Charitable Trust, chief secretary, central department of labor, director general, central department of employment and training and the directors of all state departments of employment and training.