BENGALURU: Coming out against the Union Budget, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah on Monday said though the Budget mentioned Aatma Nirbhar (self-reliant) Bharat a number of times, it was actually a ‘Aatma Barbaad (ruinous) Budget’. Siddaramaiah said the Budget was nothing but an extension of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat announcements which Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had made earlier.  

He said the Centre had not come out with any reassuring measures for the farmers. The Budget has disappointed the farmers as they were expecting waiver of interest on loans as well as interest-free loans. The government decided to impose agriculture cess, but has not announced any new programme for farmers’ welfare, he said.

Speaking to reporters, Siddaramiah said that instead of proposing to impose agri cess, the Finance Minister should have focused on farmers’ loans.He also questioned the move to privatise the power sector and increase the FDI limit in the insurance sector from 49% to 74%. He said privatisation of the power sector would only add to the burden of the farmers. There was nothing in the Budget for students, unemployed youths, minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, he said. He said Karnataka did not get much but the Budget was benevolent to poll-bound states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

KPCC president D K Shivakumar said no sector or people got benefited from the Budget.  Though the Centre announced earlier that two crore jobs would be created, it did not get any mention in the Budget, he said.

Balan Engineering Launches Electric Vehicles Focussed To Benefit Rural Economy

Announces Six Variants – Electric Loader-Vishwas; Electric Garbage Vehicle-Swach Rath; Electric Passenger Ricksaw B5; Electric Sanitizing Vehicle; Electric Fumigation Vehicle and Electric Push Cart-Kamala

Bengaluru, Thursday, January 28, 2021: Balan Engineering Private Limited based in Bengaluru  today announced the launch of six variants of Electric Vehicles that would benefit individuals and companies focussed on Cargo transport, Agriculture, Civic Amenities amongst others. The Evs were today unveiled by Hon’ble Minister for Industries, Shri.Jagdish Shettar at an August gathering at Hotel Lalith Ashok Bengaluru and were joined virtually by Shri. Sadananda Gowda, Hon’ble Minister for Chemicals & Fertilisers, Govt. of India and Shri. Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Minister of MSME, Govt. of India.

The Electric Vehicles that were unveiled today included the  Electric Loader-Vishwas, Electric Garbage Vehicle-Swach Rath, Electric Passenger Ricksaw-B5, Electric Sanitizing Vehicle, Electric Fumigation Vehicle and Electric Push Cart-Kamala. These are more elevant in boosting rural economy and in large civic corporations and institutions. The EVs are durable and sturdy. The Company will offer 4 years warranty on battery and motor controller.

Balan Engineering will be engaged in the manufacture, assembly and sale of various types of Electrical Vehicles and has received the licence to set up a large manufacturing facility in Bagalkot District, Karnataka.

Currently production is in Bengaluru with a capacity of about 300-400 vehicles a month. The factory operations will shift to Bagalkot on completion of the factory in 6-9 months and the Bengaluru facility will then be converted into the city service centre.

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Balakrishnan N, Director, Balan Engineering Pvt. Ltd. said, “We have acquired 25 acres land for setting up the Manufacturing Facility at Bagalkot and the land development activities have been completed. We are awaiting financial closures to start the construction work.”

Balakrishna added, “The investment is over Rs. 50 crores which will be done in two phases to set up the state of the art Manufacturing plant.  We will be manufactuirng various types of EVs under our own brand as well as for others who are interested to partner with us. Some major players are already in discussion with us for a tie-up of production in their names.”

The capacity of the factory in the initial phase will be about 25,000 vehicles per annum of all types. The expanded capacity will be more than 50,000 vehicles. 

The promoters have a passion and deep conviction for manufacturing vehicles to boost rural economy as it saves significant transport costs and as they are good value for money, helps saves costs. The promoters believe that Value for money and Durability of the product will be two guiding principles of the Company.

Balakrishna further added, “The Company’s key focus at present is to manufacture vehicles that would be used for Cargo Transport, Rickshaws for rural population, rural economy relevant vehicles for use in Agriculture, and in forest areas and resorts, for civic amenities and inside large corporate campuses and educational institutions. We are committed to manufacture products that would ease the lives of even the street vendors through our Electric Push Carts which would help espeically the fruit and vegetable sellers in their daily work.”

The vehicles are 100 pc made in India and in line with Atmanirbar Bharat. The company has tied up with very good and reputable motor and lithium battery suppliers. The company’s products will inspire confidence in the minds of the users. 

Some of the products will be very unique. They are very useful in the civic administration. The products will be export worthy. They have gone through practical full load trials in the road conditions prevalent in India. 

Balakrishna shared, “Bagalkot is one of the few places in Karnataka that has not had much opportunity to be industrialized. Our proposal to set up our plant in Bagalkote received very good support from the Government of Karnataka.  The factory in Bagalkot will generate 200 jobs in the full size directly and about 300 more indirectly. The surrounding area will also develop with  individual workshops in plenty to support the large factory. The location is also at a tri-junction from Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai and hence the 6 states below Maharashtra will be our focus.”

Balan Engineering is promoted by young entrepreneur, Mr.N. Balakrishnan, an Electrical Engineer- 27 years, with about 7 yrs of entrepreneurial experience and Mrs. Usha Nandaa Kumar, an experienced entrepreneur who has successfully promoted a food processing MSME unit in Bengaluru for 20 years employing more than 200 people. 

The company is professionally run by a team and supervised by a board. Shri Kuljeet Singh Popli former CMD of IREDA is also on the board. The company has some very experienced advisors from the industry.

Chamarajanagara RCHO  said that the first dose alone does not give protection to the beneficiaries and the immunity against the virus builds up only after the second dose.

CHAMARAJANAGARA: Amidst tepid response to the ongoing COVID vaccination, four doctors who got inoculated with the first dose of vaccine have tested positive for COVID-19 in Chamarajanagara.

Notably, this include two doctors who took the indigenous Covaxin shots a week ago. Apart from the four doctors who were inoculated, three other doctors have also tested positive and all of them were working at the designated Covid hospital in the district .

Sources say that the doctors are having only mild symptoms and are not hospitalized.

It may be recalled that few health care workers were reported positive after taking the vaccines first dose.
However authorities have not revealed as to how these doctors contracted the pandemic at a time when the designated Covid hospital has just 22 active patients currently, a miniscule figure compared to few months ago and reported only 4 fresh cases on Friday .

When asked about this, Chamarajanagara RCHO Vishweshwaraih said that the first dose alone does not give protection to the beneficiaries and the immunity against the virus builds up only after the second dose of the vaccine.

Asked about how these doctors were detected for the virus, he said that they showed minor symptoms of Covid and were tested .

Bengaluru, Jan 29: A bill providing for imposition of penalty for contravention of rules under the Epidemic Diseases Act and for compounding of such offences was tabled in the Karnataka Assembly on Friday.

Besides, ten other bills, including one authorising the state government to investigate complaints in fraudulent transactions, were also presented.

The Karnataka Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020, tabled by Health Minister K Sudhakar, considers it necessary to amend the act to make provisions for imposition of penalty for contravention of rules and regulation made under act and for compounding of such offences.

According to the bill, whoever contravenes the provisions shall be punished with such fine as may be prescribed in rules or in regulations, which may extend to Rs 50,000 or with imprisonment for a term which may extend up to three months or both.

The Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments (Amendment) bill, 2020 was tabled by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.

The bill to amend the act of 2004 in its statement of objective states that it is to authorise the government or the District Magistrate or public authorities to cause investigation on the complaint or fraudulent transaction and to empower the Revenue Secretary or any government authority to investigate.

It also seeks to empower the Secretary to government or competent authority with powers of civil court to summon persons and documents, and empowers the government to appoint a competent authority in cases pertaining to any financial establishment which is spread over in more than one district.

Among the other bills tabled today are Karnataka Municipalities and Certain Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, Karnataka Municipalities (Second Amendment) Bill, Karnataka Lokayukta (Third Amendment) Bill among others.

Karnataka is at rank 10 among better performing states in vaccination coverage of registered Health Care Workers (HCW), as per data released by the central ministry of health.

BENGALURU: Karnataka is at rank 10 among better performing states in vaccination coverage of registered Health Care Workers (HCW), as per data released by the central ministry of health.Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday said the number of people vaccinated against Covid-19 in India since the nationwide drive was rolled out, reached 25,07,556 till 2pm Thursday.

“Lakshadweep (83.4 per cent), Odisha (50.7 per cent), Haryana (50 per cent), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (48.3 per cent), Rajasthan (46.8 per cent), Tripura (45.6 per cent), Mizoram (40.5 per cent), Telangana (40.3 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (38.1 per cent), Karnataka (35.6 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (35.5 per cent) are among the better-performing states with over 35% vaccination coverage of healthcare workers,” he said.

On the other hand, Tamil Nadu (15.7 per cent), Delhi (15.7 per cent), Jharkhand (14.7 per cent), Uttarakhand (17.1 per cent), Chhattisgarh (20.6 per cent) and Maharashtra (20.7 per cent) have less than 21 per cent coverage and need to improve, Bhushan said. The government has been urging healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses, not to hesitate to get vaccinated, stressing that it is their social responsibility.

Meanwhile, the Union health ministry has issued detailed guidelines to states to ensure there is no wastage of Covid-19 vaccines and for that purpose, vaccinators at session sites have been allowed to add additional beneficiaries.

Gowda said he has written to the State Government to get final clearances within six months for the project so the scheme can be implemented without delay. 

BENGALURU: Two days after he announced that the Union Government had cleared the setting up of a plastic park in Mangaluru, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, DV Sadananda Gowda, urged the state to submit a detailed project report at the earliest. 

Pointing out that the Centre will fund 50 per cent of the project cost, with Rs 40 crore to be released in four instalments, Gowda said he has written to the State Government to get final clearances within six months for the project so the scheme can be implemented without delay. 

“The plastic park will be an ecosystem enabling common facilities – like characterisation, prototyping and virtualization, non-destructive material testing, incubation, training, warehousing, plastic recycling, tooling design, research & development, etc – to assist the plastics sector move up the value chain and contribute to the economy more effectively,” Sadananda Gowda said. 

“The Union Government will fund 50 per cent of the project cost, up to Rs 40 crore. The rest can be funded by the State Government via its existing entities like Karnataka State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) or through a new special purpose vehicle,” he added. 

According to the Union government’s scheme guidelines, the equity contribution of the State Government shall be at least 26 per cent of the cash equity of the SPV (excluding value of any land given as equity). 

However, the Bengaluru City police made several arrangements, set up check posts to stop the tractors from entering the city.

BENGALURU: Hundreds of farmers began their rally amidst police security in Bengaluru on Tuesday morning after the Republic Day parade. The farmers, to express solidarity with those protesting in Delhi against the farm laws, had decided to take out a ‘Tractor Rally’. 

However, the Bengaluru City police made several arrangements, set up check posts to stop the tractors from entering the city.

On Tuesday morning, the tractors which arrived from different districts around the city, to participate in the rally were stopped in the outskirts and the farmers were asked to go by car, bus or bikes but not in tractors. 

Later, the police permitted only 10 tractors to be part of the rally. 

The rally so far has been peaceful and there have been no altercations between the farmers and the protestors in Bengaluru. But, stopping of the tractors has
irked the farmer leaders. Kurubur Shanthkumar, farmer leader said that farmers are on the way and more gatherings will be held in the evening. 

“About 5000 farmers are in the freedom park and all tractors have been stopped by the police and we condemn their actions,” he said.

Senior traffic police officers from Yelahanka, Hebbal said that most of the tractors were stopped in the outskirts and the farmers used their own vehicles to reach Freedom Park. There was no traffic jam and also vehicles were less on-road following the Republic day holiday.

Meanwhile, scores of students from Mysore University took out a silent protest in front of the university campus demanding the repeal of farm

Just like previous Aero India editions, the Kempegowda International Airport will partially shut operations for a week due to the closure of airspace over Bengaluru.

BENGALURU: Just like previous Aero India editions, the Kempegowda International Airport will partially shut operations for a week due to the closure of airspace over Bengaluru. Beginning a few days before the show and till its conclusion, the airport will not operate flights for a total of 33 hours.

The biennial air show and aviation expo will be held from February 3 to February 5 at the Air Force Station at Yelahanka. The partial closure will begin on January 30 and will continue till February 5, and the daily closure ranges from a minimum of three hours to a maximum of six hours a day.

According to an airport source, the South Runway, the only runway operating t present, will be closed. The NOTAM (Notice to Airmen), which contains information on change in any aeronautical facility, stated, “As a consequence of airspace closure in connection with Aero India Show 2021, KIA will be closed for aircraft operations.”