Another 13 new smart cities announced; Mangaluru continues to wait its turn

Karwar, Jun 3: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an alert, predicting thundershowers and heavy rainfall over north interior Karnataka, coastal Dakshina Kannada and Udupi over the next three days.

With Cyclone Nisarga hitting the Uttara Kannada coast on Tuesday,  parts of coastal Karnataka received heavy rainfall. Gusty winds tore through the coastal towns, as the sea too turned violent with rough waves smashing the shore.

The alert was issued with the advancement of Nisarga from east-central Arabian Sea to north Maharashtra, and adjoining south Gujarat coast. “Though it does not cover Karnataka, the range of cyclonic winds is very big and reaches north interior Karnataka also.

So an alert has been called out,” CS Patil, director in-charge, IMD, Bengaluru, said. The weather department has forecast a severe cyclonic storm and then a depression. Patil said formation of systems is a common factor before the onset of the monsoon and they help in its advancement.

“Cyclone Nisarga is helping in the quick advancement of the southwest monsoon to Karnataka, and the monsoon is likely to arrive before the scheduled date as conditions are favourable,” he added.

Bengaluru, Jul 21: A man was arrested on Tuesday for riding his high-end bike up to a speed of almost 300 km per hour on a flyover here during ongoing lockdown, police said. After a selfie video of the man's reckless ride went viral on social media, police arrested him for putting his life and that of others at risk and seized his 1000 CC bike.

Identified by police as Muniyappa, he rode his bike on the nearly 10-km long Electronic City flyover, accelerating almost to 300 KMPH as he whizzed past some vehicles, including cars autorickshaws and trucks that were moving in both directions.

"This video made viral by the rider...going at a dangerous speed of almost 300 kmph at Ecity flyover putting his own & others life at risk..CCB traced the rider & seized bike Yamaha 1000 CC.. handed over to traffic (police)," Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil tweeted, tagging the video.

A case of reckless driving has been registered against him, police said. They said the incident occurred during the week-long lockdown in force in the city and outskirts till Wednesday morning to contain the spread of coronavirus, leaving most roads deserted as people remained indoors. However, it was not known when exactly he undertook the ride. A fortnight ago, three youths who were doing wheelies on the city roads met with a ghastly mishap and lost their lives.

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Bengaluru, May 9: The Karnataka government may not extend the daily working hours from 8 to 12, with Labour Minister A Shivaram Hebbar saying on Saturday that the move would neither benefit the industries nor workers.

Hebbar said that the proposal has not been discussed and it may come for final deliberations next week. He also noted that some States have already extended the working hours. More than extending working hours, there should be employment to be given. If there are no jobs what can be done by extending working hours? If it is done (working hours extended to 12 hours), it would neither benefit workers nor industries. Let's see what happens, he said.

Asked if the government was in favour of the extension, he said, "I don't think it will be ready for the (12 hour) proposal." Meanwhile, the Minister also said that their top priority now was to see that all MSMEs start operating again, salaries are paid to employees and there are no job losses for any reason. If industries don't reopen, how can workers get their employment? We should think in parallel, Hebbar said adding, the government was keeping the interests of both MSMEs and workers in mind.

He urged the Centre to offer a relief package to the MSME sector, saying it is facing very difficult times due to the adverse impact of the COVID-19-induced lockdown, and also noting its role in generating large-scale employment and feeding large industries.

The BJP-led government has done whatever within its limitations to help the MSMEs, he said. Earlier this week, the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced that the monthly fixed charges of electricity bills of MSMEs would be waived for two months. MSMEs have suffered huge production losses due to the lockdown. It takes some time for them to revive, Yediyurappa had said. The Chief Minister had also said payment of fixed charges in the electricity bills of the large industries will be deferred without penalty and interest for a period of two months.