Karnataka Bengaluru November 13 Highlights: Medical colleges affiliated to RGUHS to reopen from December 1

In the wake of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) commencing white-topping work on the Outer Ring Road in the city, traffic will be diverted in both directions at Babusapalya flyover and Horamavu underpass.

According to BBMP Executive Engineer Chandrashekhar, traffic will be allowed on the service roads from November 18 to December 6 while the work is planned to be carried out at Babusapalya flyover towards Horamavu. Later, when the work at the same flyover towards Hebbal direction is scheduled to take place, traffic will be redirected on service roads in the corresponding direction from December 6 to 22.

Meanwhile, at Horamavu Underpass towards Hebbal, traffic will be allowed via service roads from November 19 to December 7. The white topping work on the same flyover towards Rammurthynagar will be done from December 7 to 26 during which traffic will be redirected via the service roads in the corresponding direction.

"In view of the above, public co-operation is requested till completion of the work," the BBMP notification issued on Friday read.

The Central government on Friday approved the release of Rs 577.84 crore for Karnataka, as central assistance for dealing with the damages due to floods and landslides during the South-West Monsoon this year.

An official statement by government said, the Central Government had deputed Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) immediately after the calamities, without waiting for the receipt of Memorandum from the affected State Governments.

The Aam Admi Party (AAP) in Karnataka Friday released a mobile application to enable citizens calculate how much more they would spend on electricity bills beginning next month criticising the BJP government's decision to hike power tarrif.

The app named 'Shock Beda' also offers an option for users to compare their bills in Bengaluru to the same in Delhi, presenting the contrast in rates.

Releasing the app, AAP Karnataka Convenor Prithvi Reddy said that the party has planned agitations if the Yediyurappa-led government fails to withdraw the hike in power tariff. 'Afte Deepavali, AAP volunteers will hold door-to-door visits to explain to the people on the atrocities and corruption done by the incumbent BJP government and the other previous governments,' Reddy said.

Earlier last month, the state government had notified an average increase of 5.4 per cent in bills from various electricity supply companies across districts in the state, to be in effect from November 1. The release of the app is considered one amongst the first major steps taken by AAP since it decided to contest in all 198 wards for the upcoming civic body elections in Bengaluru.

Karnataka Government has decided to reopen all the medical, dental, AYUSH, paramedical, nursing and pharmacy colleges affiliated to Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences(RGUHS) from December 1.

Karnataka Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar on Friday announced it on Twitter. “The Karnataka Government has decided to reopen all the medical, dental,AYUSH, paramedical, nursing and pharmacy colleges affiliated to RGUHS from 1st December,” Sudhakar said.

“I request the administration of colleges and students to strictly adhere to the guidelines issued by the government,” he added.

Owing to public demand and to avoid rush in trains during the Deepavali week, the South Western Railway has decided to add more coaches on trains running on popular routes within Karnataka and to destinations in neighbouring states.

According to SWR officials, the following trains will have additional coaches:

• Train no.02079/02080 KSR Bengaluru – Hubballi-KSR Bengaluru Express Special (Two chair cars from Nov 13 to 15)
• Train no. 06582 Mysuru – Hubballi Express Special (Three 3-tier sleeper coaches from Nov 13 to 16)
• Train no. 06581 Hubballi - Mysuru Express Special (One 3-tier sleeper coach on Nov 13, three 3-tier sleeper coaches from Nov 14 to 17)
• Train no. 06535 Mysuru – Solapur Express Special (Three 3-tier sleeper coaches from Nov 13 to 14)
• Train no. 06536 Solapur – Mysuru Express Special (Three 3-tier sleeper coaches from Nov 14 to 15)
• Train no. 06549 KSR Bengaluru – Belagavi Express Special (Two 3-tier sleeper coaches from Nov 13 to 16)
• Train no. 06550 Belagavi – KSR Bengaluru Express Special (Two 3-tier sleeper coaches from Nov 14 to 17)
• Train no. 02089 Yesvantpur – Shivamogga Express Special (Two chair cars from Nov 13 to 14)
• Train no. 02090 Shivamogga – Yesvantpur Express Special (Two chair cars from Nov 24 to 15)
• Train no. 06517 KSR Bengaluru – Mangalore Express Special, Train 06585 KSR Bengaluru – Karwar Express Special, and Train 06236 Mysuru – Tuticorin Express (One 3-tier sleeper coach on Nov 13
• Train no.06518 Mangalore - KSR Bengaluru express special, Train 06586 Karwar- KSR Bengaluru Special, and Train 06236 Tuticorin – Mysuru Express Special (One 3-tier sleeper Nov 14).

Health and Medical Education Minister Sudhakar Friday inspected the 20-acre land allocated by the government to build a medical college in Chitradurga district. Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Chitradurga MP A Narayanaswamy, and other top officials accompanied the minister and apprised him of the plan in place at the location earmarked for the facility to come up.

Not everyone has had a bad run because of the coronavirus-induced lockdown. In fact, FreshToHome, a Bengaluru-based e-commerce brand focused on fresh fish and meat — netted a growth of 2.5 times since March thanks to the sea change in consumer behaviour amidst the pandemic. Buoyed by this surge, FreshToHome has raised $121 million (about Rs 890.8 crore) in a funding round led by the Investment Corporation of Dubai, Investcorp, Ascent Capital, DFC, Allana Group and others.

“Consumers in India who mostly go to the local wet market, which is considerably unhygienic, believe what is cut in front of them (meat, fish) is fresher. Little do they realise that it might have taken some days for the fish to reach there,” Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder and CEO of FreshToHome, explains to indianexpress.com.

Read more

Noted Karnataka-based journalist and writer Ravi Belagere died in Bengaluru after suffering a heart attack early on Friday.

The 62-year-old Editor-in-Chief of ‘Hai Bangalore’, who redefined Kannada tabloid journalism, was in his office when he suffered the attack and was rushed to a private hospital.

Taking to Twitter, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa recalled Belagere’s works as a journalist and writer. “I pray to the almighty to give courage to his family and fans to bear the loss,” he posted on the micro-blogging site.

Belagere is survived by his two wives, two sons and two daughters. According to his family, his mortal remains will be kept at Prarthana School for the people to pay their last respects.

Read more

The Karnataka government has announced that a mobile application to facilitate options for a safe commute for women travelling in KSRTC buses will be rolled out soon. According to Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister J C Madhuswamy, the app will be developed under the Nirbhaya project and will offer options of a panic button, GPS tracking system for buses, detailed information of bus schedules, and details of 500 bus stops across the state.

"The cabinet has also decided to install CCTV cameras in around 5000 buses. 3000 women staff of KSRTC will also be trained in self-defense. The entire cost of implementing the same under the Nirbhaya project of the central government will be borne on a 60:40 sharing basis," Madhuswamy said.

The Bengaluru unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Thursday arrested three men from Kerala for allegedly smuggling hash oil from Andhra Pradesh into the city.

At least 3 kg of hash oil worth over Rs 25 lakh was seized after the agency intercepted a vehicle bearing Kerala, in which the accused were travelling, near Devanahalli tollgate in North Bengaluru.

According to officials, the hash oil was packed in brown colour packets and hidden below the driver’s seat. The accused arrested were identified as Ranjith R S, Ananth P D and Sarang K K.

During the course of interrogation, the trio reportedly confessed that the drugs were sourced from their contacts in Visakhapatnam for sale in Bengaluru and Kerala.

Read more

Noted journalist and writer Ravi Belagere died after suffering a heart attack in the wee hours on Friday. Belagare (62) was rushed to hospital but he did not respond to treatment and passed away, sources said. His mortal remains will be kept at his Prarthana School premises for people and dignitaries to pay their last respects.

Belagere was a known name in Karnataka from his popular Kannada tabloid "Hi Bangalore" and more than 70 of his literary works including fiction, translation, storytelling, column writing and biography. He was known for his writings on the crime world and his column 'Paapigala Lokadalli', a series on the Bengaluru underworld was very popular.

He was a recipient of several awards including the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award, Rajyothsava award and the Karnataka Media Academy Award for Lifetime achievement among others.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa condoled Belagere's death, recalling his works as a journalist and writer. "I pray to the almighty to give courage to his family and fans to bear the loss," he said in a tweet.

To curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, Bengaluru’s civic body, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), is planning to recommend to the government that New Year celebrations be restricted this year.

Speaking to indianexpress.com, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said, “We have celebrated Ganesha festival, Dasara, and in a few days, we will celebrate Deepavali. All these festivals have been observed taking precautionary measures and following Covid guidelines. During New Year celebrations, we see a large number of people gather at MG Road, Brigade road, etc. If such crowds are permitted, it will be difficult to impose guidelines like social distancing and wearing of masks.”

Every year, revellers turn up in large numbers in the city’s Central Business District (CBD) areas like M G Road, Church Street, Commercial Street and Brigade road on the night of December 31 to welcome the new year.

Read more

The Karnataka government has issued a order to “bring in more clarity on the concept of green crackers”, which, it had exempted from the statewide ban of crackers ahead of Diwali, last week.

As per the clarification issued by Anjum Parwez, Principal Secretary of the Revenue Department (Disaster Management), green crackers can be distinguished from the remaining through a green logo of the CSIR-NEERI (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research – National Environmental and Engineering Research Institute) and PESO (Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation) along with a QR code. “The QR code is a novel feature incorporated on firecrackers to avoid manufacture and sale of counterfeit products,” he said.

Read more

The Karnataka Technical Advisory Committee for Covid-19 has found that the test positivity rate (TPR) in both Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Sira constituencies was lower than that observed at the state level after the first round of “aggressive” testing was held following the bypolls earlier this month.

According to the report based on tests conducted in the segments from November 6 to 10, the number of people who tested positive for the virus in RR Nagar and Sira was 84 and 103, respectively. While 14,727 samples were tested in RR Nagar during this period, 15,784 samples were tested in Sira. This resulted in the positivity rate at RR Nagar to be at 0.57 per cent and that at Sira at 0.65.

“The TPR in these two constituencies are lower than the state TPR value (2.15%) as on November 10. The conduct of the election per se has not resulted in more cases in these two constituencies,” the report added.

Read more

The Karnataka cabinet led by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday gave approval to formation of four new town panchayats and a municipal council by including several new revenue layouts which have come up at the peripheries of the Mysuru city.

The cabinet decided to upgrade Bogadi, Srirampura, Kadakola and Rammanahalli gram panchayats into town panchayats. "It has also been decided to form a new municipal council comprising Hinkal, Koorgalli, Belawadi and Hootgalli on the outskirts of the city," Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha said.

The Bengaluru City Police Thursday handed over new motorcycles to 25 police personnel of DJ Halli and KG Halli stations who lost them to the arson and mob attacks that took place in their jurisdiction in August.

The officers had parked their bikes near the two stations after rushing to the spot to help in maintaining law and order in the area. These motorcycles were among the 146 vehicles that were gutted altogether then, the police added.

"Since then, these officers had to work without their bikes and this has been affecting their personal and professional lives," S D Sharanappa, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) said. The new bikes were provided by TVS Motor Company as part of their corporate social responsibility initiative.

At an event titled 'We are with you,' the motorcycles were distributed by Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai. Senior police officers including DG & IGP Praveen Sood and Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant were also present for the event.

The Karnataka state cabinet Thursday constituted a committee to study the Kasturirangan report, which proposed Western Ghats as an 'Ecologically Sensitive Area' (ESA). The cabinet sub-committee chaired by Minister for Ecology, Environment and Forest Anand Singh will make recommendations to the Centre on the implementation of the report.

As per the report, around 37 per cent of the Western Ghats are proposed to be brought under ESA zones. Further, it has also recommended the prohibition of development activities within 60,000 square kilometres of ESA spread over Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Goa.

The other members of the sub-committee are Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan, Revenue Minister R Ashok, and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy said in his announcement.

The Karnataka government Thursday announced that a task force has been constituted to prepare a white paper to initiate potential action points in a bid to promoting other than Bengaluru to undertake development in the technology ecosystem.

According to Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwathnarayan, IT /ITeS, Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO), Electronic System Design Manufacturing (ESDM), and Telecom sector industries located at Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubbali-Dharwad, and Shivamogga are likely to get a facelift and enhancement in growth.

"The state government has embarked on an initiative titled 'Beyond Bengaluru' as part of our efforts to boost IT penetration across Karnataka, supported by strategic policy interventions and holistic economic development. These cities are foreseeing great investment opportunities and employment potential," Ashwathnarayan highlighted.

He was speaking at an event hosted in the city as part of the upcoming Bengaluru Tech Summit, scheduled to be held from November 19 to 21.

The Bengaluru City Police Thursday busted a ponzi scam allegedly run by a software engineer and his family by duping hundreds of people across the city. According to the police, the accused have been identified as Patel Anand, his wife Gangambike, daughters Geetha and Pushpa, brother-in-law Umashakar and four other employees.

A case has been registered at the Jnanabharathi police station based on a complaint registered by an investor named Deepak who resides in Basaveshwara Nagar. Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Sanjeev M Patil DCP West said Patel Anand ran a company named Aishwarya Lakshmi Chit funds in M Vishweshwaraiah Layout. "The accused offered to pay Rs 2,500 monthly interest to those investing Rs 1 lakh. Though he paid the investors till February, he stopped it then citing the Covid-19 pandemic and consequent lockdown," Patil explained.

After preliminary investigations, the police have found that the accused claimed to depositors that their money was invested in real estate firms and other companies to afford the 2.5 per cent interest, assuring them of sharing profits. The police are now recording statements of investors allegedly cheated by the company. DCP Patil has urged victims to contact Jnanabharathi police station to submit investment documents and to record statements.

The Covid-19 positivity rate recorded in the last 24 hours, as on Thursday, dropped to 1.83 per cent as per the statistics issued by the Department of Health and Family Welfare Services.

While 2116 more people contracted the infection, 3368 people recovered from the infection across the state. Of these, 1069 new cases and 991 discharges were reported from Bengaluru alone as the total tally in the city since March 8 rose to over 3.54 lakh.

Meanwhile, active cases in Karnataka dropped further to 29,470. At the same time, 1,15,386 samples were tested (including 27,286 Rapid Antigen Detection Tests) across the state. Other districts that reported the most cases on November 12 were Mysuru (115), Hassan (100), Tumkur(80), and Belagavi (54). The death toll rose to 11, 474 as 21 more deaths in the last few days were linked to the pandemic on Thursday.

Almost half of Karnataka’s population may have been infected by Covid-19 by August, nearly 100 times more than the officially reported figures during that time, a seroprevalence study has estimated.

The survey, carried out by the Mumbai-based IDFC Institute, found that at least 44.1 per cent of the population in rural areas of Karnataka and 53.8 per cent in urban areas were exposed to the coronavirus, and, as a result, developed antibodies to the infection.

The sero survey used data collected from a representative sample of households in 20 districts of the state from mid-June through August. The state has a population of roughly 6.4 crore.

Read more

Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Bengaluru where we bring to you the latest updates on bypolls in Sira and RR Nagar COVID-19, lockdown 6.0, unlock phase 6, North Karnataka rains, North Karnataka floods, Sandalwood drug case, Bengaluru violence and more across Bengaluru and Karnataka. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the state in real time.