Motorists wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus wait at a traffic intersection in Bengaluru. (AP)Karnataka Bengaluru Coronavirus News July 15 Highlights: Karnataka on Wednesday reported 1,990 new Covid-19 cases and 45 deaths, taking the total number of infections to 28.76 lakh and the death toll to 35,989. The day also saw 2,537 discharges, continuing to outnumber the fresh cases, taking the total number of recoveries in the state so far to 28,06,933.
Meanwhile Bengaluru Urban reported 400 new cases, as the city saw 490 discharges and eight deaths, the health department said in a bulletin.
The total number of active cases in the state is 33,462. While the positivity rate stood at 1.59%, the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) was 2.26%. Districts that reported most related fatalities apart from Bengaluru Urban were Dakshina Kannada, Mysuru (6 each), Belagavi (4), and Chikkaballapura (3).
Customs officials at Mangaluru International Airport Thursday seized gold worth Rs 34,46,464 from two passengers who returned from Dubai.
According to the officials, the accused — identified as Mohammed Ansar Kayyar (34) and Mohammed Moosa Miyas (18) — were attempting to smuggle 703 grams of gold. "We found gold in a paste form that was concealed inside the bottom portion of their suitcases while clearing their luggage after their flight from Dubai landed here," an official said.
The Luxembourg Embassy in New Delhi has named Suresh Vasvani as the new Honorary Consul in Bengaluru with consular jurisdiction over Karnataka.
Vasvani is the first Honorary Consul of the newly created Consulate of Luxembourg in Bengaluru. On January 22, 2021, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg signed the Commission of appointment following the recommendation of the government, and President Ram Nath Kovind signed the exequatur confirming the new Honorary Consul's appointment on March 3, 2021, an Embassy statement said.
“The new Honorary Consul of Luxembourg is an Industry leader and his experience and capability will further deepen the relations with the government of Karnataka and the industry,” the statement said.
The Ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in India, Jean Claude Kugener, welcomed the nomination of the new Honorary Consul and wished him the very best to further deepen the bilateral relations between Luxembourg and Karnataka.
Luxembourg is the 16th Foreign Direct Investor and has very strong and historic bilateral relations with India and in particular with Karnataka.
70-year-old Babi Chinappa, a resident of Avandoor village in Madikeri Taluk, Kodagu district, has been found dead.
Chinappa was washed away by the overflowing stream near his house on Wednesday. The NDRF, SDRF and police conducted an overnight search operation and found the body on Thursday morning.
Heavy rain coupled with gusty winds since Wednesday morning across Kodagu district disrupted normal life. A minor landslide was reported on Madikeri-Mangaluru NH275 and All India Radio tower in Madikeri is at the threat of collapse following a landslide right at the foot of the tower.
An orange alert has been declared on Friday, a red alert on Saturday, an orange alert on Sunday and a yellow alert on Monday.
The searches conducted by the Karnataka Central Crime Branch (CCB) police in Bengaluru on Thursday revealed 38 foreigners found staying without valid/expired documents.
According to Joint Commissioner (Crime) Sandeep Patil, searches were conducted in 60 houses in total in the city. “Our teams also found 90 Ecstasy pills and cannabis from residences of foreigners,” he confirmed.
CCB sleuths added that cases have been filed under relevant sections of Foreigners Act and NDPS Act.
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Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar Wednesday said the department will ensure that no student would be denied a hall ticket to attend the SSLC (Class 10) exams due to non-payment of fees.
“Block Education Officers (BEOs) will take appropriate action to ensure SSLC exam candidates do not face any hardship. A circular has been issued by the Department of Public Instruction with the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) overseeing that no student will be denied a chance to attend the examinations due to issues related to fees payment,” Kumar explained.
Later during the day, Department of Public Instruction (DPI) Commissioner, V Anbukumar, issued a circular clarifying that all hall tickets were uploaded to the KSEEB portal on June 29 after which, heads of institutions could download them using the login code provided to each school.
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The Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (CCB) police on Wednesday arrested three people who have been allegedly duping many car owners by selling their high-end vehicles without paying them any money.
Police also seized 19 high-end cars from their possession which includes Kia Seltos, Fortuner, Ford Endeavour, Volkswagen, Skoda Rapid and other cars worth Rs 3 crore.
According to the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil, all the cars were sold to others in Mysuru, Chitradurga, Davangere, Bhatkal and other places in the state.
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The Karnataka government has announced a programme aimed towards up-skilling the youth workforce in the state through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and by converting selected institutions to 'technology hubs'.
"The programme named ‘Udyoga’ will be undertaken at a cost of Rs 5000 crores by the government of Karnataka," Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwathnarayan said. Also in charge of Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, and Livelihood, he said the programme is set to be launched in October.
As part of the programme, construction of buildings, refurbishing of 78 old labs, and setting up of 72 new labs are also being planned among other initiatives, officials added.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police are conducting checks in houses where foreigners are staying in a bid to inspect instances of overstaying, and to identify those staying without proper documents. According to Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil, as many as 6 ACPs, 20 police inspectors, and 100 head constables/police constables were deployed for the operation.
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A raid of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is underway at premises of various state government officials.
ACB is conducting searches at premises of G Shreedhar, Executive Engineer, District Urban development cell, DC office, Mangaluru; Krishna .S. Hebsur Executive Engineer, Karnataka Rural Infrastructure development ltd, Udupi and R P Kulkarni, Chief Engineer KRIDCL.
H R Krishnappa, Assistant director, Mallur urban planning authority, Kolar district; Suresh Mohre, JE PRE Bidar; Venkatesh T, DCF Social forestry in Mandya and Siddaram Mallikarjun, AEE, Hescom, Vijayapura.
A Krishnamurthy, Senior Motor vehicle inspector, Koramangala in Bengaluru and A N Vijay Kumar Electrical inspector, Ballari.
Karnataka Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah Wednesday urged the BJP-led government in the state to convene an Assembly session at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi to discuss issues related to Covid-19 management, vaccination drive, allegations of corruption and the financial situation of the state.
Citing sections 3 and 4 of the Karnataka Conduct of Government Business in the State Legislature Act, 2005, the Congress leader wrote to CM B S Yediyurappa and Assembly Speaker Vishveshwar Hegde Kageri demanding that the Assembly session be convened in July.
“The government taking no steps to facilitate a session yet is hence a violation of rules,” he wrote in the letter.
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Bengaluru is likely to receive light to moderate rainfall in the next two days with maximum temperature of 26 degrees C and minimum of 20, according to India Meteorological Department(IMD).
Surface wind is likely to be strong and gusty at times, reaching a speed of 40 km/hr, IMD said in a statement.
Meanwhile, an orange alert has been announced in Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Kodagu till July 17, and a yellow alert in Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Belagavi, Dharwad, Haveri, Bidar, Kalaburagi and Yadgir.
The Karnataka government appointed senior IAS officer Anjum Parwez as the new Managing Director of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL).
Parwez will relieve Rakesh Singh who has been holding the post as concurrent charge for over three months.
Parwez is a principal secretary ranking officer and has been transferred from the Transport Department.
Heavy rain coupled with gusty winds since Wednesday morning across Kodagu district disrupted normal life.
A minor landslide was reported on Madikeri-Mangaluru NH275 and All India Radio tower in Madikeri is at the threat of collapse following a landslide right at the foot of the tower.
The platform at Triveni Sangama in Bhagamandala is submerged. The district administration has declared a yellow alert in the district on Thursday.
An orange alert has been declared on Friday, a red alert on Saturday, an orange alert on Sunday and a yellow alert on Monday.
Mandya MP Sumalatha Ambareesh has urged the state government to constitution a task force to oversee the protection of the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) reservoir repeating that her concern over the safety of the dam was based on inputs and feedback provided by technical experts.
“It is essential that a coordinated task force comprising members of different departments should meet regularly to review the overall safety of the (KRS) dam. No single entity has been given the authority to oversee the overall safety of the dam yet," she noted.
She explained, "While issues related to quarrying do not come under the ambit of the Irrigation Department and the dam authorities, the police seems to be concerned only with the presence of unauthorised persons."
The independent MP visited the dam built across Cauvery on Wednesday to inspect the area and to interact with officials of Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd and the dam authorities.
Karnataka State Police will now have specialised ‘scene of crime officers’ (SoC officers), who will be responsible for gathering crucial evidence from crime scenes.
On Tuesday, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa gave the sanction to recruit 206 SoC officers across the state. According to senior police officers, the recruitment process will commence soon.
Speaking to Indianexpress.com, Additional Director-General of Police (Crime and Technical Services) R Hitendra said, “The SoC officers will specialise in forensic science as well in identification, collection and preservation of evidence at the scene of the crime. They have to identify, record and collect evidence at the crime scene.”
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Karnataka Cooperation Minister S T Somashekhar Wednesday said the government was likely to announce a waiver of Rs 79.47 crore in farm loans borrowed by 10,187 farmers who succumbed to Covid-19.
“In a couple of days, the Apex Bank board of governors will meet and take a decision on the loan waiver. Loans borrowed from the apex, district credit cooperative banks, and primary agricultural cooperative societies will be waived. CM Yediyurappa will officially announce the decision in the coming days,” he said.
According to government officials, most farmers who died due to the infection were in Belagavi (3,334), with outstanding loans amounting to Rs 23.84 crore. Other districts that reported most farmer deaths due to Covid-19 were Bidar (824) and Vijayapura (754), officials added.
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