Parmesh S Jain

CM Bommai takes stock of the preparations for the launch

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said the ambitious ‘Grama One’ programme that is aimed at providing services of various departments at the citizens’ doorsteps would be a reality from Republic Day in rural areas of 12 districts.

Bommai had held a virtual meeting to review the preparations for the launch of the programme. It would be implemented in 12 districts of the state from January 26. About 3,000 ‘Grama One’ service centres would be opened for the purpose, the Chief Minister’s Office said in a statement.

Speaking at the virtual meeting Bommai said, for now it would be launched in 12 districts and it would cover all the districts in the coming days.

He instructed the officials to ensure that services of prominent departments should be made easily available for people in rural areas.

It would be launched in Bidar,Koppal,Ballari, Belagavi,Haveri,Vijayapura,Davangere, Shivamogga,Tumakuru,Chikkamagaluru,Udupi and Kodagu districts on January 26. 

About 100 services related to Revenue,Food, Health,labour departments would be available through ‘Grama One’ service centres.

They would be provided with uninterrupted power and internet connectivity, the officials said.

Parmesh S Jain

House within 4 months for the old lady whose house was washed away in floods

It was a harsh Ganesha festival for Kamalavva who had lost the roof over her head due to heavy rains and flooding.

The old lady had poured out her woes to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai who was passing on the spot instructions for relief during a private television ( public tv) channel about 4 months ago.

Both my sons have died. Please get me a house built,” Kamalavva had pleaded and the Chief Minister consoling Kamalavva has delivered what he had promised–to ensure that she celebrates Sankranti in her own house.

A resident of Manchanakoppa village in Bommai’s own constituency Shiggavi, Kamalavva Thimmanagoudra had requested the Chief Minister for a house.

Bommai responding positively had instructed the district administration to take action to mitigate her plight.

Accordingly the house was built within 4 months and handed over to Kamalavva on the occasion of Sankranti, making it a special day in her life.

Assistant Commissioner of Savanur Annapurna Mudukamma handed over the house which was built by Habitat Centre.

Karnataka is set to play a big role in the nation’s economy in the future. It is a matter of pride that out of 54000 Startups in the country 13,000 are in Karnataka.

Karnataka government has taken a slew of measures to encourage setting up of Startups. Guidance and scientific support is being provided by the government,Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.

Bommai in his online message on the occasion of ‘National Startup Day’ said that the idea of New Karnataka for New India would be made a reality.

In accordance with the Prime Minister’s wish the Startup Day has been celebrated in a meaningful manner in the state.

In the coming days the state government would provide a big boost for startups,innovation, scientific thinking and entrepreneurship,he said.

Thanks to the long term vision of the Prime Minister the number of startups which was around 500 has crossed the 54000 mark now.

He has given a big push for innovation and startups by setting up a forum to help them and freeing them from the restrictions of the government.

The Prime Minister has been the inspiration for the highest growth of startups in the state, Bommai said and thanked the Prime Minister for this on behalf of the state’s youth.

Karnataka the topper in India’s ITBT

Karnataka is in the numero uno spot in IT BT sector in the country. The first software company in Karnataka was started in 1980.

It has seen a rapid growth since then and the state has the maximum share in IT BT exports, Bommai said.

Financial assistance for Startups

Financial assistance is being provided through programmes like Elevate 100, Elevate Unnati for setting up startups by SC ST communities.

Under the Amrit Startup programme financial help is being provided for 75 Startups by OBC and minority community members.

Similarly 25 Startups from women are being provided the assistance. About Rs120cr has been granted for 482 startups in the state, he said.

Beyond Bengaluru

State government is mulling to take startups to various districts of the state under its ‘Beyond Bengaluru’ project.

A new Research and Development Policy would be unveiled to encourage setting up startups from a small garage to big scientific research and industrial units, Bommai said.

Strong foundation in schools for research and startups

It has been decided to encourage scientific thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship by including them as subjects in school syllabus. About 150 ITIs have been upgraded.It has been decided to upgrade Diploma colleges.

State government would bring an ambitious programme to lay a strong foundation in schools and colleges for scientific thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship, he said.

There are over 180 science and research institutions in various fields in Bengaluru.

Government is keen to see more startups coming in agriculture, horticulture and sericulture which generate more employment.

Bommai wished more startups coming with social responsibility towards education, health, social welfare and women’s empowerment.

Karnataka will play a major role in realising Prime Minister Modi dream of making India a $5 Trillion economy.

Through startups a New Karnataka would make a significant contribution for the economy of New India, he said and congratulated the Prime Minister for encouraging the youth to inculcate scientific thinking to face new challenges.

Parmesh S Jain

The immigration official caught a 44-year-old sales executive who worked in Saudi Arabia and visited Yemen as part of his work for a week in January this year .

Kashinath Durai,immigration officer at Kempegowda International Airport caught Irfan Khan,after he arrived at the airport from Sharjah on December 14.

Upon verification of documents the officials found Irfan had visited Yemen for a week and had taken exit visa from Yemen to come to Bengaluru.

Inquiries revealed that Irfan, a native of Chikkamagaluru was working as sales executive for a motor company in Riyadh and using his residential permit he had gone to Jejan a border town on work in January.

However due to emergency curfew Irfan was stranded and forced to stay back in the town for a week and later with the help of a local , he managed to get exit visa using which he returned to Bengaluru.

The Airport police have questioned Irfan an recorded his statement for further investigation.

According to the officials, the central government gazette notification issued on September 2017, barred indian citizen from visiting Yemen. However Irfan violated the rule and travelled to Yemen, liable for penal action he added.

Parmesh S Jain

The JC Nagar police on Sunday arrested a rowdy-sheeter who had 16 criminal cases pending against him.

The accused has been identified as,Tabrez Pasha.

Senior officer told reporters,a complaint was filed in JC Nagar police station by a private firm employee who stated in his complaint that he works as a executive of a private finance company and as on December 17th.

While he was returning after collecting money as finance money from a bakery near CBI Junction one unknown person came in bike and confronted him by abusing and threatened him to give cash and belongings which he have and robbed the executive at knife point.

Based on complaint two special teams were formed by ACP,JC Nagar, Sub-Division,Smt.Reena Suvarna a team headed by PI,JC Nagar and his teams swung into action and visited the crime spot and after collecting information.

A team collected the CCTV footage from the neighbouring areas and during analysing the CCTV footage the team got the identity of the accused and using police technology skilled the team zeroed in on him.

During investigation the accused confessed the crime and based on his statement the team recovered Rs.10,000 and vehicle used to commit offence has been seized and further investigation is on.

With his arrest the police have solved 11 criminal cases.The accused had jumped bail and on the run for five years has been Finally nabbed and is now cooling his heels in jail.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Addl CP West,Sandeep Patil,DCP North,Vinayak Patil,ACP,Smt.Reena Suvarna,PI,DH Muniyappa,PSIs,as, Raghupati,Ajith Kumar,and crime staff as,Arase Gowda,Thimmachari,Srinivasmurthy,Jagadish MB,Mallikarjun,Basavaraj,Naveen Kumar, Sridhar,Srimanth Rathod,Ramesh Thondihal,and Santhosh Kumar has been appreciated for the excellent investigation and exemplary work done by them a suitable reward will be given to the whole team for their excellent work in nabbing the absconding accused he added.

Parmesh S Jain

A godown of furniture manufacturing unit in JP Nagar was gutted due to accidental fire that broke out in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Seven fire tenders were pressed into the service to put out the fire and no one was injured in the fire,a Senior fire officer said.

The incident occurred at around 5.30am when passers by notice the fire and alerted the control room.

The fire engulfed the godown and soon spread to the adjacent scrap dealer shop.A team of fire personnel rushed to the spot and doused the fire after 3 hours of operation.

Goods worth Rs 10 lakh suspected to have been gutted in the mishap.

The owner of the furniture shop said that raw materials were kept inside the godown and an electrical short circuit could be a reason for the mishap he added.

A case has been registered in Puttenahalli police station and fire experts are inspecting the spot and after investigation the reason behind the fire will be ascertained he added.

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said the time has come to revisit the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act as it creates more disputes than resolving them.

The Chief Minister spoke virtually at the inaugural of the ‘PM Gati Shakti’ southern zone conference chaired by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.

“There are some legal interventions that are necessary. Delay is the most costly affair which has been affecting our infrastructure. The delay in our irrigation projects are bogged down by the Inter-State Water Disputes Act. In fact, it creates more disputes than resolving them,” Bommai said.

He said the time has come to revisit the legislation and see to it that the multifold levels of addressing the inter-state water disputes are removed at one single stage.

“Especially on the basis of maximum utility of a river basin capacity and using technology, and giving away all political considerations, a win-win situation for all riparian states can be the solution. Let us start thinking anew on that. The structure and content in resolving these issues has to be re-addressed by the Government of India, he added.

The Chief Minister’s statement has come at a time when the state has locked horns with neighbouring Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Goa and Andhra Pradesh regarding inter-state water disputes concerning Cauvery, Mahadayi and Krishna rivers.

Also, the state is pushing for clearances, especially environment-related ones, with regards to the Mekedatu project across the Cauvery to which Tamil Nadu is opposed.

Noting that some “basic impediments need to be removed, referring to problems such as environmental and forest clearances at the central government level, Bommai said, We have to maximise the scale of investment and relax certain rules in the finance sector, so that more investments can come through for infrastructure development.”

He also stressed on the need for common Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules for all-round development of the entire Indian coastline, instead of each state with a coastline having its own.

Highlighting the need for a Bengaluru-Mysuru-Hyderabad high-speed rail line, the Chief Minister said upgrading of the 453 kilometre lane will bring new economic activity between the two states.

On the much-awaited suburban rail project for Bengaluru worth Rs 15,000 crore, Bommai said, Bengaluru is an international city that contributes 40 per cent of the country’s IT/BT exports. It needs better infrastructure in terms of transportation, hence the suburban rail project needs more impetus and speed.”

Bommai also requested Gadkari for central support to regional airports at Ballari, Shivamogga, Vijayapura and Hassan.

For tourism, heliports at Chikmagalur, Madikeri and Hampi are coming up, he said, adding, Hampi, which is a UNICEF site, Badami and Vijayapura can be one circuit. Mysuru, Shravanabelagola, Belur and others can be another circuit. These should be on the national tourism map.” 

Davangere: Amidst the weekend curfew in the state in the wake of surging COVID-19 cases, one of Karnataka’s BJP MLA celebrated his birthday on Sunday with a bash.

MLA SV Ramachandra on Sunday organized a birthday bash in front of his house with hundreds of people attending the event to wish and congratulate the MLA.

Interestingly, the local cops, who were supposed to impose the weekend curfew were also present at the event but with bouquets in their hands to please the ruling party leader. In one of the videos that is doing rounds on social media, police officials are seen wishing the MLA by giving bouquets and saluting him on the stage.

Bengaluru: The Hanumanthanagar police reportedly arrested the co-accused in the ganja case after shooting him in the leg, while he attempted to flee at Bengaluru. 

Reportedly, the police had left during early hours to carry out an arrest operation to apprehend rowdy sheeter, Rahul. At the time, the accused allegedly assaulted the police personnel identified as Ningappa and attempted to flee from the site, as a result, Hanumanthanagar sub-inspector Basavaraj Pateel shot the accused on his leg and apprehended him.  

It is learned that the arrested accused had several cases filed against him, along with pending warrants for his arrest. In the background of this, the Hanumanthanagar PSI Basavaraj Patil put together a team under his leadership to undertake an operation for the accused’s arrest. 

Based on the verified information obtained by the police on Monday morning, the law enforcement was able to locate his whereabouts and confirm that he was at the uninhabited area at Konakunte Narayananagar, it is learned.

Bengaluru: Karnataka on Sunday added 34,047 fresh infections and 13 deaths to its COVID-19 tally, the Health Department said. The number of new cases so far is 32,20,087 and the death toll 38,431.

A bulletin said 5,902 people were discharged and took the total number of recoveries to 29,83,645. Active cases stood at 1,97,982.

Bengaluru urban district saw most of the cases with 21,071 infections and five deaths.

Other districts too saw fresh cases: 1,892 in Mysuru, 1,373 in Tumakuru, 1,171 in Hassan, 782 in Dakshina Kannada, 722 in Bengaluru Rural and 709 in Mandya.

There were two deaths in Dakshina Kannada and one each in Chikkaballapura, Hassan, Kalaburagi, Mandya, Mysuru and Ramanagara.

There were zero fatalities in 23 districts.

The positivity rate for the day was 19.29 per cent and the case fatality rate 0.03 per cent.

A total of 1,74,470 samples were tested in the State and they included the 1,42,652 RT-PCR tests today. This took the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 5.9 crore.

There were 37,086 people who got inoculated and they took the total vaccinated till now to 9.14 crore, the department said.