Heavy rainfall to lash K'taka for 2 more days, schools shut in 7 districts

Bengaluru, Nov 19 (IANS) As heavy rains are predicted in Karnataka for 48 hours, the government has announced holidays for schools and colleges in seven districts, including Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural districts.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is chairing a meeting on Friday with district administration to review the situation in the state due to incessant rainfall since the last week and also take up the relief measures.

Bommai will take up the virtual meeting of all the district commissioners, CEO's Zilla Panchayats to get information on damages caused by the rains, availability of emergency funds.

R. Vishal, Commissioner of Department of Public Instruction has authorised the district commissioners to take a call on declaring holiday for schools after assessing the situation of rains in their respective districts.

"The decision has to be taken at the local level depending on the weather to ensure the safety of students. The holidays will have to be compensated later," the circular said.

The district authorities of Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Ramnagar, Tumakuru, Chamarajanagar districts have announced holidays for schools and colleges. The authorities in Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural have also announced a holiday for schools on Friday.

Incessant rainfall has already caused waterlogging in several parts of Bengaluru leading to traffic jams.

The India Meteorological Department has issued a yellow alert in Bengaluru and surrounding districts for Friday. With a depression forming over southwest Bay of Bengal, more rain and thunderstorms are predicted in southern and coastal districts of Karnataka for next two days and heavy rains for another four days at isolated places.