The protest by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and other state run corporations is likely to affect bus services in the state today. (Express Photo: Darshan Devaiah BP)Karnataka Bengaluru Coronavirus News December 11 Highlights: Employees of Karnataka state-run transport corporations will be holding protests in Bengaluru, demanding they be considered government employees. The employees’ major demands are they be brought under the government’s payroll, provided the same privileges/incentives as government employees and compensation of Rs 30 lakh be paid to transport workers who died during Covid duty.
The protest by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and other state run corporations will likely affect bus services in the state today. According to the DCP (West), Bengaluru, seven depots of KSRTC and BMTC are currently not functional.
Meanwhile, work from home arrangements will continue for IT companies and others for “some more months” due to the ongoing coronavirus situation, the Karnataka government clarified on Tuesday.
According to Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwathnarayan, the state government cannot direct companies to open offices. “They will open up eventually when the time is right. There is no thought before the government to ask companies to make its employees attend work at offices. The situation isn’t appropriate for us to ask so as well,” he said.
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The Karnataka government Friday announced that it has set aside Rs 22.5 crore to purchase medicines in the wake of a possible Covid-19 second wave predicted by the technical advisory committee.
Confirming the same, Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said, "We have discussed various points to contain the spread of coronavirus infection for the next 90 days. Rs 11.32 crore has been set aside for purchasing rapid antigen kits and another Rs 22.50 crore is earmarked for medicine purchase."
The Karnataka unit of the Aam Aadmi Party Friday criticised the new Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Bill 2020 passed in the State Assembly terming it the state government's move to transform the local civic body into a "den of corruption."
AAP Bengaluru President Mohan Dasari alleged that the latest move by the state government would remove the provisions provided by the 74th amendment to empower urban local bodies. "The new law aims at transferring powers of BBMP to MLAs and others. With BBMP zones proposed to be raised to 15 from the existing 8, all hands point towards the move by the BJP-led government to transform BBMP into a den of corruption," he said.
Meanwhile, AAP Karnataka Vice-president Suresh Rathod said alleged that the BJP would now try to "loot thousands of crores" from each ward. "In short, the government is trying to deprive Bengalureans of their rights," he added.
Bringing relief to several pedestrians including employees of IT companies, patients, bystanders, and other users of the Bellandur-Sarjapur road, a new skywalk in Bellandur next to Columbia Asia Hospital is scheduled to be inaugurated on Saturday.
The skywalk placed perpendicular to Iblur will be opened for public use by MLA Aravind Limbavali who will also perform a bhoomi puja at the location at 3 pm, sources from the MLAs office informed.
The skywalk was raised after several requests from residents and road users who found it difficult to cross the road safely at the junction known for its highly dense traffic presence.
Direct flight operations between Mysuru and Mangaluru, that will cut down travel time between the two cities to an hour, was inaugurated in Mysuru on Friday.
The new flight will be operated Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and operated by Alliance Air, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India Ltd. It will depart from Mysuru at 11.20 a.m. and reach Mangaluru at 12.30 p.m. In the return direction, Alliance Air Flight AI 9533 will depart from Mangaluru at 12.55 p.m. and land at Mysuru at 1.55 p.m.
With the introduction of the new flight, the number of air movements from Mysuru airport will rise to 14. At present, services from the airport offer to and fro connectivity to Bengaluru, Belagavi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Goa, and Kochi.
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The debit card fraud continues in rural Karnataka as Tumakuru police cracked an international gang who siphoned lakhs of money by cloning debit cards and has been able to crack at least 60 cases that reported in just two months in the district.
The Karnataka High Court Friday granted conditional bail to Kannada film actor Sanjjanaa Galrani, an accused in the Sandalwood drugs case.
According to the order pronounced by the High Court, Galrani will be released subject to execution of a personal bond of Rs. 3,00,000 with two sureties. Further, she has been ordered to mark her attendance twice every month and to co-operate with the investigation.
Earlier this month, Galrani had moved a fresh petition seeking bail on medical grounds after which the HC ordered a medical checkup for the actor on Monday. Passing the order, Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar had then directed authorities to make arrangements for a medical check-up for Galrani at Vani Vilas Hospital. The court has also asked the concerned officers to submit a report on the same by Thursday.
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Employees of Karnataka state-run transport corporation are holding protests in Bengaluru on Friday demanding they be considered government employees.
According to sources, most of the drivers, conductors and staff have not reported to duty while the DCP (West), Bengaluru, said seven depots of KSRTC and BMTC are currently not functional.
The state transport employees want them to be considered as government employees and brought under government’s payroll. They also want a compensation of Rs 30 lakh to the families of all those transport workers who died due to Covid-19.
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In a remarkable example of communal harmony, a Bengaluru-based Muslim businessman has donated land worth nearly Rs 1 crore for expansion of a Hanuman temple at Hoskote taluk, some 35 kilometres from the city.
After the government ordered that Sri Veeranjaneyaswami Temple in Valagerepura has to make way for the expansion of the national highway (NH-75, Old Madras Road), the temple trust requested one H M G Basha, who runs a business in the cargo transport sector, if he could donate one gunta land. Basha’s land lies close to the temple that was built nearly three decades ago.
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The direct flight operations between Mysuru-Mangaluru was inaugurated in Mysuru on Friday.
The new flight will be operated Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays initially, and will be operated by Alliance Air, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India Ltd. It will depart from Mysuru at 11.20 a.m. and reach Mangaluru at 12.30 p.m. In the return direction Alliance Air Flight AI 9533 will depart from Mangaluru at 12.55 p.m. and land at Mysuru at 1.55 p.m.
With the introduction of the new flight, the number of air movements from Mysuru airport will rise to 14. At present, services from the airport offer to and fro connectivity to Bengaluru, Belagavi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Goa, and Kochi.
After the inauguration, Mysuru MP Pratap Simha said: “This flight service will help drive more investment to Mysuru besides giving an impetus to tourism development.”
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa worshipped a cow on Friday after the state assembly passed the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill-2020 on Thursday according to the Chief Minister’s office.
Meanwhile, enactment of a stringent law to ban slaughter of cattle in the state is set to be delayed until the next legislature session after the BJP government on Thursday deferred tabling of the Bill in the Legislative Council.
The BJP does not have a majority in the Council, which was soon adjourned. The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2020, was passed in the Assembly on Wednesday amid protests by the Opposition Congress and JD(S) over sudden introduction of the Bill. It was listed on the Legislative Council’s agenda on Thursday but was deferred from introduction at the final moment, before the winter session was adjourned.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Bengaluru City Police busted three rackets involved in prostitution and gambling in separate raids conducted in the city.
According to Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil, the prostitution rackets were being run in the guise of spa and massage centres. "While these were situated in Koramangala and Basveshwarnagar, another gambling club in Bagalur was also raided," he said.
Out-patient departments (OPDs) at private hospitals across Karnataka, including Bengaluru, will remain shut today. The move follows a decision taken by allopathy medical practitioners in the state to protest against the Centre’s recent decision to allow postgraduates in Ayurveda to perform surgeries.
Speaking to Indianexpress.com, Prasanna HM, president, Private Hospitals and Nursing Home Associations (PHANA), said that the call for closure of OPDs in the state is part of nationwide protests initiated by the Indian Medical Association.
“A recent gazette notification permits MS Ayurveda graduates to perform many of the surgeries which are developed and taught in allopathic sciences. This puts the public at risk,” he said.
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Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol on Thursday deposited a 140-gram golden crown, which was gifted to him by his villagers, to the state chief secretary as state property.
Recently Karjol received a 140-gram gold crown from villagers. According to Karjol, the villagers of Karjol in Vijayapura district felicitated him and gave him a 140-gram golden crown. “The people of my village in love and appreciation for my work as MLA presented me this golden crown,” he said.
“People of my native village see me as one of their own family members who became the state’s deputy CM. This was their gift to me for taking up various development works and irrigation works in the Karjol village and constituency,” he added.
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The Karnataka Assembly Thursday passed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Bill 2020, which proposes a new governance structure for the city and provides for increasing its municipal limits.
The bill, which was tabled Wednesday by Karnataka State legislature’s Joint Select Committee, proposes changes to certain provisions of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, 1976 that currently governs Bengaluru.
BJP MLA of CV Raman Nagar in Bengaluru S Raghu, who is heading the joint house committee, said the existing city municipal limits of over 800 sq km will be expanded to cover an additional one-km radius.
A look at the key provisions in BBMP Bill 2020
Employees of Karnataka state-run transport corporations will be holding protests in Bengaluru today, demanding that they be considered government employees.
The employees’ major demands are they be brought under the government’s payroll, provided the same privileges/incentives as government employees and compensation of Rs 30 lakh be paid to transport workers who died during Covid duty.
The protest by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and other state-run corporations will likely affect bus services in the state today.
According to the DCP (West), Bengaluru, seven depots of KSRTC and BMTC are currently not functional.
Metro services in Bengaluru's Namma Metro Phase-II are likely to get driverless trains. According to Siemens Limited, the company will provide state-of-the-art automated train technology systems for phase-II for Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) by implementing driverless solutions.
In a statement, Siemens Limited said that this would be their first CBTC (communications-based train control) project with the highest grade of automation, GOA4, where the train is automatically controlled without any manual intervention on board.
The technology will improve capacity, punctuality, reliability, and provide enhanced safety for passengers. The solution includes electronic interlocking, automatic train protection system, operation control for automatic train monitoring by train supervision system and telecommunication system, the statement mentioned.
Namma Metro's Phase II includes an 18.8 kilometre line connecting between R V Road and Bommasandra. As many as 16 elevated stations and a depot at Hebbagodi is also part of BMRCL's plan for this phase.
A team comprising officials from the Centre will visit Karnataka within three to four days in a bid to decide on the compensation for damage caused by floods that hit various districts of the state between mid-September and October.
Confirming this, Revenue Minister R Ashok said, "The state was affected by floods in three phases this year. While the first was from August 1 to September 15, the second and third phases were from September 15 to 30, and from the second to third weeks of October. The Central team will visit all flood-hit areas to assess the level of damage."
He added that he will join Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to hold consultations with the team in charge of deciding compensations as well, in response while the Assembly discussed the issue on Thursday.
Enactment of a stringent law to ban slaughter of cattle in Karnataka is set to be delayed until the next legislature session after the BJP government on Thursday deferred tabling of the Bill in the Legislative Council.
The BJP does not have a majority in the Council, which was soon adjourned sine die.
The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2020, was passed in the Assembly on Wednesday amid protests by the Opposition Congress and JD(S) over sudden introduction of the Bill. It was listed on the Legislative Council’s agenda on Thursday but was deferred from introduction at the final moment, before the winter session was adjourned.
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Work from home arrangements will continue for IT companies and others for "some more months" due to the ongoing coronavirus situation, the Karnataka government clarified on Tuesday.
According to Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwathnarayan, the state government cannot direct companies to open offices. "They will open up eventually when the time is right. There is no thought before the government to ask companies to make its employees attend work at offices. The situation isn't appropriate for us to ask so as well," he said in a response to a question in the Assembly.
Several IT and related companies in Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, had provided its employees work from home/remote working option after closing their office spaces from March this year due to Covid-19. Meanwhile, the Centre had also extended connectivity norms to enable the same till December 31, 2020.
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