The curfew will be imposed from 10 pm to 5 am every night for a period of 10 days. (PTI Photo)Bengaluru Live Highlights: Karnataka on Tuesday recorded 356 new Covid-19 infections out of which 269 cases were from Bengaluru Urban. The Karnataka health department recorded two deaths from Bengaluru and Hassan.
In total Karnataka has 7,456 active cases, out of that 6,122 are from Bengaluru urban. The state health bulletin informed that there were 347 recoveries.
A night curfew has been imposed in Karnataka in the interest of public health, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Monday. People would have to strictly follow Covid norms at tourist spots, he added. The curfew will begin today and will be imposed from 10 pm to 5 am every night for a period of 10 days.
In other news, the Congress party will repeal the proposed contentious anti-conversion legislations immediately after coming to power following the 2023 Assembly polls in Karnataka, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah said on Monday.
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya has “unconditionally withdrawn” his comments that Muslims or Christians, who have undergone religious conversion, should be brought back into the fold of Hinduism. The video clip of his comments had caused a huge controversy at a time when a series of divisive speeches have been made from public platforms.
"Night Curfew" announced by the Karnataka government for ten days as part of its containment measures to control further COVID spread, has come into effect from 10 PM across the state on Tuesday.
The night curfew is from 10 PM to 5 AM every day till January 7 morning, during which no activities will be allowed. There has been a steady increase in the number of COVID-19 clusters in the state and in the number of Omicron variant's infections, with its tally in Karnataka now standing at 38.
The government has said that it is imposing additional containment measures proactively to break the chain of transmission in the state. Stating that the night curfew has been decided following experts' advice, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra in a statement today has appealed to public to cooperate with authorities and police, by following the rules, for larger public good. (PTI)
Medical experts here have supported the proposed rollout of vaccines for children in the age group of 15-18. They said that vaccinating children was imperative to reduce the transmission of the novel coronavirus. Notably, the Union health ministry on Tuesday issued guidelines for the vaccination of children to be held nationwide from January 3, 2022.
Dr BS Ajaikumar, the executive chairman of Healthcare Global Enterprises Ltd and a member of the state expert panel to tackle the anticipated third wave, said that vaccination of children was essential considering the threat posed by the Omicron variant. “This will reduce the worries of parents whose kids are going to schools and colleges. Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin has received approval for use among children. Vaccinating teenagers will reduce the transmission of the virus from them to older adults. Trials have also been conducted in the US with no side effects. The government should adopt strategies to make the registration process hassle-free,” he said.
Dr Jagdish Chinnappa, consultant paediatrics at Manipal Hospitals and another member of the expert panel, said that though few cases of Omicron have been reported in India, it was a matter of time before it rapidly spread across the country. Read more
A pro-Kannada outfit staged a protest here at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday to demand action against the recent torching of a Kannada flag in Maharashtra's Kolhapur. Some miscreants reportedly burnt a Kannada flag in Kolhapur on December 14 when the Karnataka legislature was in session in Belagavi, which shares border with Maharashtra.
Maharashtra has been demanding merger of Belagavi and some other border areas with it claiming that a substantial number of Marathi-speaking people reside there. The outfit, Jaya Karnataka Janapara Vedike, said in a statement that the central government should immediately intervene and take strict action against those involved.
"The Union government should immediately intervene, and take strict action against those who are attempting to foment unrest between the people of the two states, by calling the meeting of chief ministers and leaders of all parties of both Karnataka and Maharashtra," the group said in a statement. It added that the government should ban such organisations who are "trying to poison the relationship of the two states against the spirit of our Constitution". (PTI)
Ruling out health issues, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said that he has the strength to work tirelessly for 365 days without any rest, and his target was to bring BJP back to power after the 2023 polls.
The Chief Minister's statement came amidst speculations that he was suffering from a serious knee ailment and was likely to fly overseas soon for a treatment.
".....I have the strength to work tirelessly for 365 without any rest. I have decided to work a minimum of 15 hours a day. Bringing BJP back to power in the 2023 polls is my target and I will begin preparations for it in 2022," Bommai said in response to a question.
Speaking to reporters here, he said BJP leaders will collectively work as a team for the polls. To a question on BJP National General Secretary in-charge of the state Arun Singh's recent statement that the party will contest assembly polls under his leadership, Bommai said, "He is a Delhi level leader.. he has kept that confidence in me. I thank him. We in the BJP work as a team together and collectively, it's team work, as I'm the Chief Minister he has said that." (PTI)
The Dharwad bench of Karnataka High Court has imposed a fine of Rs one lakh each on a police inspector and a rehabilitation centre for forcefully confining a married woman and her three-year-old daughter at the centre. Terming the act as “moral policing”, the court expressed its displeasure and said that the inspector cannot intervene in the married life of a person.
A bench headed by justice NS Sanjay Gowda ordered the court registrar to deposit the fine amount as a fixed deposit in the name of the girl child. Her mother, the petitioner in the case, can draw interest from the fixed deposit, the court said.
On May 3 this year, the petitioner moved out of her husband’s house along with their kid due to domestic issues. Read more
A 49-year-old man was arrested on Sunday by the Surathkal police in Mangaluru for allegedly sexually harassing a 27-year-old Christian woman after her mother had sought the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) help citing alleged police inaction.
The accused has been identified as Mohammed Sharief Siddique, a resident of Chokkabettu.
The woman had earlier written a letter to the VHP seeking their intervention and stated that the police and her community leaders were not helping her. Read more
A 42-year-old woman was hacked to death in the outskirts of Bengaluru in front of her son, allegedly by her ex-husband and his aides, late on Monday night when she was returning in a car after casting her vote in Anekal for the gram panchayat election. The police are yet to make arrests in the case.
The woman, identified as Archana Reddy, is a resident of Bellandur. The police suspect her husband Naveen and his friend Santosh killed her. A case has been registered at the Electronic City police station.
According to police sources, the incident took place around 10:30 pm when Archana, who got divorced with Naveen around five to six years back, was traveling back home in a car. Read more
The Karnataka government's e-Governance department has partnered with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and State Bank of India (SBI) for enabling and implementing 'e-RUPI', a cashless and contactless payment solution to students under its scholarship programme.
e-RUPI will be used to ensure a leak-proof delivery of education fees of eligible students by paying digitally to the college or institute by the Karnataka government. The Karnataka government will get e-vouchers delivered to the mobiles of eligible students. The voucher code can be received on the feature phone also. The students will be able to redeem e-RUPI at the identified colleges or institutes for the intended purpose of fees payment, NCPI said in a release.
For redeeming e-RUPI, the identified institutes will scan the QR code or SMS string displayed by the students using an Application or POS machine, and this process will remove the requirement of any physical token delivery for the students to avail of the scholarship, it said. (PTI)
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Tuesday said the state government should take serious note of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's remark that 40 villages from Jat tehsil in the border district of Sangli were welcome to join the southern state. Speaking on a point of information in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Patole said the state government needs to understand what problems these villages are facing.
"Bommai has spoken about it in the Karnataka Assembly and we need to take it seriously. He also said Karnataka will not part with even an inch of Belagavi and other Marathi-dominated areas in that state," the Congress leader said. ---PTI
A 26-year-old hacker, who managed to gain access to funds of the Karnataka government’s e-procurement cell in July 2019 to steal Rs 11.5 crore, used the internet connection of a five star-hotel he was staying at the time to carry out the hack, a probe by the Criminal Investigation Department of the Karnataka police has revealed.
In a chargesheet filed on December 15 into the July 2019 hacking at the e-procurement cell, the CID has linked the 26-year-old hacker Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki to the crime by showing that an Internet Protocol address allocated to a hotel in Bengaluru where the hacker was staying between May and July 2019 was used to access the e-procurement portal. Read more
The Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend the ‘precautionary’ shots to those engaged in the trade and industry sector, irrespective of the age limit.
In his address to the nation on Saturday night, the Prime Minister did not use the expression “booster”; he said three priority groups — healthcare workers, frontline workers, and those above 60 with associated comorbidities — would get a “precautionary dose” of the vaccine. The prioritization and sequencing of the second dose would be based on the completion of 9 months from the date of administration of the second dose. Read more
The Dharwad bench of Karnataka High Court has imposed a fine of Rs one lakh each on a police inspector and a rehabilitation centre for forcefully confining a married woman and her three-year-old daughter at the centre. Terming the act as “moral policing”, the court expressed its displeasure and said that the inspector cannot intervene in the married life of a person.
A bench headed by justice NS Sanjay Gowda ordered the court registrar to deposit the fine amount as a fixed deposit in the name of the girl child. Her mother, the petitioner in the case, can draw interest from the fixed deposit, the court said. Read more
A 49-year-old man was arrested on Sunday by the Surathkal police in Mangaluru for allegedly sexually harassing a 27-year-old Christian woman after her mother had sought the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) help citing alleged police inaction.
The accused has been identified as Mohammed Sharief Siddique, a resident of Chokkabettu.
The woman had earlier written a letter to the VHP seeking their intervention and stated that the police and her community leaders were not helping her. Read more
With the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) barring vehicles on the Dr Shivakumara Swamiji Flyover, popularly known as Goraguntepalya Flyover, traffic has increased manifold on Tumakuru Road, the traffic police said.
The NHAI has shut the flyover till January 3, 2022 after the authorities discovered that two cables had rusted at the 8th Mile of the flyover during an inspection conducted on Saturday. Read more
Ahead of the Karnataka BJP executive committee meeting on Tuesday in Hubballi, Arun Singh, BJP national general secretary and in charge BJP Karnataka, has ruled out a change in leadership in the State.
"Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is doing a job and there will be no change of Chief Minister. The party will go to the next Assembly polls under his leadership," Singh said. He further praised Bommai as one of the most honest and humble politicians against whom there are no charges of corruption. Read more
The Congress party will repeal the proposed contentious anti-conversion legislations immediately after coming to power following the 2023 Assembly polls in Karnataka, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah said on Monday.
Calling the “Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021” popularly known as the anti-conversion Bill as “anti-constitution” and “draconian”, he said the Congress too is opposed to religious conversion by force or through inducement. Read more
1. A night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am will be imposed for the next 10 days, until January 7, 2022.
2. From 30 January 2021 to 2 January 2022, all restaurants/cafes/clubs/bars will be allowed to have 50 percent capacity. All staff members will be required to have a negative RT-PCR report and a double vaccination certificate.
3. No more than 300 people will be allowed to attend weddings, meetings, ceremonies from 28 January 2021 onwards.
With the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) barring vehicles on the Dr Shivakumara Swamiji Flyover, popularly known as Goraguntepalya Flyover, traffic has increased manifold on Tumakuru Road, the traffic police said.
The NHAI has shut the flyover till January 3, 2022 after the authorities discovered that two cables had rusted at the 8th Mile of the flyover during an inspection conducted on Saturday. Read More
Pralhad Joshi, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines of India chaired a review meeting at Rail Soudha, Head Quarter of SWR today along with Halappa Achar Minister of Mines & Geology, Minister of Women & Child Development and Disabled & Senior Citizens empowerment, Government of Karnataka.
Joshi reviewed the progress of important projects undertaken by SWR in Karnataka namely Hubballi-Ankola New Line project, Tumkur-Chitradurga New Line project, Dharwad-Belgaum New Line project, Hubballi-Chikajajur Doubling project, Hosapete-Vasco Da Gama electrification and Road Over Bridge in lieu of LC No.299,300 & 18 in Dharwad district.
A brief presentation on the achievements of SWR in new-line, doubling, electrification related developments and Parcel and Freight performance in 2021, was given to the ministers.
Joshi instructed to complete railway developmental projects expeditiously. He assured all possible support in early resolution of bottle necks (if any) with regard to these projects. To benefit the public of the area, he advised to have a Rajdhani Express to connect Hubli with New-Delhi, directly and a proposal will be sent to Railway Board, to the effect.
General Manager Sanjeev Kishore assured the Minister that his advice and instructions will be pursued in the right earnest and full efforts will be put by SWR team to ensure speedy completion of railway developmental projects.
In order to ensure proper functioning of all PSA plants and preparedness for anticipated third wave, mock drill of all commissioned PSA plants in the state is scheduled for December 29 on the directions of the Union Ministry of Health.
Totally, 264 Oxygen generation plants have been allocated (PM cares : 50, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas : 31, State initiative : 40, CSR: 132, Railway Board : 3, Ministry of Coal: 6 & through Foreign Aid :2) Of the 264 plants allocated 192 plants have been commissioned and operational.
192 plants commissioned account for 199 MT/day oxygen production at facility level. The mock drill will be taken under the leadership of State Health Department.