A volunteer testing a two-year old baby in Bengaluru’s Bommanahalli Zone. (Express photo)Karnataka Bengaluru Coronavirus News March 15 Highlights: As many as 934 more people contracted coronavirus infection in Karnataka on Sunday, while 609 others recovered from the infection. Of these, 628 new cases and 371 discharges were reported from Bengaluru alone.
The number of active cases further rose to 8364 (6107 in Bengaluru).
At the same time, 73,108 samples were tested (including 4397 Rapid Antigen Detection Tests) across the state. Other districts that reported the most cases on March 14 were Kalaburagi (43), Dakshina Kanada (40), Mysuru (31), and Belagavi (27).
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Karnataka Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah on Monday announced that he would contest the next Assembly election from Badami.
Siddaramaiah said this while speaking at the Legislative Assembly on the Budget.
He said this after Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri asked him to tell what he had in mind to contest the next assembly elections.
Siddaramaiah had earlier said that the 2018 Assembly election would be his last. But he added that there is pressure on him from his party members to contest the next election.
Leader of opposition in the Karnataka assembly Siddaramaiah received his first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on Monday. The 72-year-old Congress leader was inoculated at Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sex CD scandal involving former Karnataka minister Ramesh Jarkiholi has intensified its search for the woman in the video and two suspects in the case. The SIT has issued a notice to the woman and assured her of protection from the police.
On Saturday, the woman had allegedly put out a video statement (Indianexpress.com could not independently verify the video) seeking protection from the government. In the video, she also claimed that she had attempted to kill herself.
Addressing Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, the woman said: “I don’t know how and what they did with the video. I have already been stripped of my dignity everywhere. People from my area are coming home every day and questioning me and my parents. My parents tried to kill themselves twice. I, too, tried to kill myself three to four times.”
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Bengaluru-based ed-tech startup helps reimagine after-school learning with help of local tuition teachers
“If you look at the kind of education that is being offered in our schools… the narrative is pretty much the same as when we were in school,” says Yashovardhan Poddar, co-founder of Bengaluru-based ed-tech startup Openhouse, who wants to change how people think about after-school learning with various clubs and activities.
But Poddar and his co-partner Akshay Rampuria, both alumni of Stanford University, need the help of neighbourhood tutors in their aim to reenvision after-school learning and support and promote the culture of deeper learning – beyond what is being taught at schools.
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Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwathnarayan was accompanied by the titular head of the Mysore Royal Family Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, and officials of the German consulate during a visit to a bungalow being restored as a heritage building in Bengaluru.
Restoration works are underway at HVN Bungalow in Malleswaram, built in 1915 by HV Nanjundaiah, the founder-president of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) resumed its ‘Golden Chariot’, a luxury train started by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) in 2008.
For the first time in over a year, the train left from Yesvantpur Railway Station on Sunday for the six nights-seven day tour, covering visits to Bandipur National Park, Mysore, Halebidu, Chikamangalur, Aihole, Pattadakal, Hampi and Goa.
The train was handed over to the IRCTC for operational and marketing purposes by the Karnataka Tourism Department in January 2020. The operations of the only luxury train had to be suspended last year due to heavy losses sustained by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC), which was then running it.
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Hubballi airport in North Karnataka got the approval of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security for the commencement of outbound and inbound air cargo services through the existing passenger terminal building.
In a statement, on Sunday, Hubballi airport said, “Customers and Freight Forwarders are hereby informed to kindly utilise the services by duly complying with regulations.”
“Commencing the outbound and inbound air cargo services through existing passenger terminal building will help the business community of North Karnataka as time bring arrangement till the commencement of Dedicated Domestic cargo terminal expected in April 2021,” the statement added.
Mysuru will play host to a national theatre fest from March 18 to 21 with known personalities from the industry attending the event.
Scheduled to be held at Kalamandira in the city, senior theatre personality M S Satyu will inaugurate the fest organized by Abhiyenthararu, a theatre group for engineers, and the Department of Kannada and Culture. The four-day event will stage plays in Kannada, Hindi and English.
Hours after a fake circular announcing holidays declared for colleges was circulated on social media and other platforms, Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwathnarayan urged officials to file a cybercrime complaint against the perpetrators for creating confusion among students and college managements in Karnataka.
“This is fake news. The fake circular has created panic and confusion among parents and students. We will ask the cyber crime police to trace the origin of this fake circular and to take action against people behind it. None should play with children’s future again,” he said.
According to officials of the Department of Collegiate Education, the dates of a circular issued last year was tweaked and shared online by some people, who will now face legal action.
The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation temporarily suspended bus operations to Kolhapur in Maharashtra due to the ongoing border row between the two states, KSRTC officials said.
A few Maharashtra leaders have been demanding the merger of the regions dominated by Marathi-speaking people in Karnataka, especially Belagavi, which the pro-Kannada organisations have been opposing.
According to a senior officer in the North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation, a vehicle belonging to Maharashtra was blackened in Belagavi which aggravated the tension between the regions.
"The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation officials had asked us if there was tension in Kolhapur and asked us not to run any buses. They too did not run any bus," the officer added.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had been raising the issue of merger of Belagavi and other Marathi- dominated regions with Maharashtra time and again.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) resumed its ‘Golden Chariot’, a luxury train started by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) in 2008, from Sunday.
According to railways, the first train started from Yesvantpur Railway Station on Sunday for the six nights-seven day tour - The Pride of Karnataka. The package will cover the Bandipur national park, Mysuru, Halebidu, Chikkamagaluru and Goa. The trip will also include visits to Unesco world heritage sites of Badami Caves, Pattadakal temples and Hampi palace ruins and will end in Bengaluru.
The train was handed over to the IRCTC for operational and marketing purposes by the Karnataka Tourism Department in January 2020. The operations of the only luxury train in South India had to be suspended last year due to heavy losses by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC), which was then running it.
Besides the Golden Chariot train, IRCTC also operates the popular Maharajas’ Express luxury train.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) that is looking into the Sex CD scandal of former Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi has intensified the search operation to track the woman in the video and two others, who are suspects in the case. SIT has issued a notice to woman, and has assured her protection.
Meanwhile, two suspects, a journalist from Tumakuru and his associate from Devanahalli are on the run. The police are analysing their bank account details.
So far, SIT officials have questioned four suspects, who were involved in handing over the CD to complainant Dinesh Kallahalli, for the second time.
In a bid to cut down on expenses, the Karnataka state government is planning to merge departments, Deputy Chief Minister Govind M Karjol said on Sunday.
“The government is planning a merger of departments to curtain unnecessary expenditure. A committee headed by former Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar has been constituted for this purpose,” he said in Bagalkot.
With the number of new COVID-19 cases witnessing an uptick in Bengaluru, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has convened a high-level meeting to discuss plans to control the same. Top officials including the Chief Secretary, Health Commissioner, Health Minister Sudhakar K, and Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai are likely to attend the meeting scheduled to be held on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, the CM appealed to the public to follow Covid-19 guidelines in place to avoid another lockdown. “If the public wishes not to face tough measures such as lockdown or curfew, they should cooperate with the government. There is no proposal to impose lockdown now but circumstances could take us towards imposing curfew or a lockdown, if new cases keep rising,” he said.
While Karnataka reported 9021 new cases since the beginning of March, 5802 cases were from the capital city alone. Bengaluru also witnessed 40 out of the 59 total fatalities linked to the pandemic in the state during the last fortnight.
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