Allegedly harassed by auto-rickshaw driver, teenage college girl commits suicide

Bengaluru, Jul 18: Bringing a major change in the  administration of Bengaluru, which has emerged as a Covid-19 hotspot, the state government on Saturday transferred B H Anil Kumar out of the BBMP and brought N Manjunath Prasad to take his place. 

Manjunath Prasad, who headed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) before being replaced by Kumar, will take over with immediate effect. The government has also placed him in concurrent charge of the Revenue Department as well as the Disaster Management, Bhoomi and UPOR.

Kumar, an Additional Chief Secretary, has been put in a place where earlier a secretary was posted. He now heads the Department of Public Enterprises. The posting would have brought him two spots down had it not been for the government upgrading it to the level of additional chief secretary. 

Anil Kumar, who was earlier praised for his work to contain the coronavirus pandemic, had faced criticism by the High Court of Karnataka for the BBMP's failure to help people in containment zones as well as other issues on the spread of the pandemic. 

Sources in the government said, pressure has been building up against Anil Kumar over the last two months after most of the Bengaluru MLAs complained to the chief minister's office.

"No MLA backed him. Everyone had a problem," a source said. 

Things came to the head with regard to a Rs 436 crore project given to KRIDL. "The issue reached the chief minister's office as all the MLAs took an issue with the way the project was awarded," a source said. 

Another source said that Kumar came under fire after a central team flagged the issue of failing Covid-19 surveillance measures in Bengaluru. The central team's criticism, it is widely believed in the government, came as the last straw. 

Bengaluru, Jul 16: Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday said he would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi for more relaxations, as he made it clear that Covid-19 lockdown measures were not required in the state anymore.

"The lockdown is not required for Karnataka, we will request for more relaxations," Yediyurappa said in response to a question about video conferencing with the Prime Minister.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "I will request him (PM) to make way for- people to lead a normal life and for the improvement in the economic situation."

Several services such as metro, theatres, gyms, swimming pools, bars among others continue to remain restricted under unlock 1.0 that is currently in place.

Modi is scheduled to hold a video conference with chief ministers of various states on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yediyurappa is scheduled to take part in the video conferencing on Wednesday.

The chief minister, who took part in the special pooja organised at Shankar Math here to pray for the control of Covid-19, said, the government was making all efforts to control the spread.

"We are taking strong measures and all of us should fight this together," he said, as he highlighted that the government has released the financial assistance amount that was announced for farmers, and was ensuring that it reaches them.

Mangaluru, Jul 2: A frontline covid-19 warrior who was working in the Wenlock Covid hospital in the city has been tested positive for the coronavirus. 

Sources said that he was a pathologist working in covid testing laboratory of the Wenlock Covid hospital.

A few days ago, a senior health official had tested positive for the covid-19.

Dakshina Kannada has so far recorded deaths of 18 covid-19 patients. A total of 14,137 samples have been tested, out of which 13,040 have turned out negative, and 833 positive, including 10 persons from other districts. 372 cases are currently active.