CCTV camera installed to monitor cleanliness helps catch chain snatcher

Bengaluru, June 19: Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa''s home-office in the city centre was shut for sanitisation after the husband of a woman employee working there tested COVID-19 positive, an official said on Friday.

"The chief minister''s home-office has been closed for sanitisation after the employee''s husband tested positive for coronavirus," an official of the Chief Minister''s Office told media persons here.

The employee did not report for duty for two days after her husband was infected with the virus.

"The chief minister''s engagements, including an official event involving the state police department were shifted to the Vidhana Soudha (state secretariat)," said the official.

As the employee was on outpost duty, she did not come in contact with the Chief Minister or his cabinet colleagues and other senior officials.

Earlier in the day, the divisional railway manager''s office in the city centre was shut for sanitisation after a visiting employee tested positive for coronavirus.

"The three-floor DRM office has been closed for the day for santisation and all employees have been advised to work from home as one of our staffer who visited the office early this week tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday," senior Divisional Commercial Manager Krishna Reddy told media persons here.

The DRM''s office is located adjacent to the Krantivira Sangoli Rayanna (KSR) main railway station in the city centre.

The state''s mini secretariat Vikas Soudha adjacent to the iconic Vidhana Soudha in the city centre has also been shut for sanitisation after a government employee working in it tested COVID positive.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), entrusted with the task of containing the virus spread, has already sanitised a portion of the massive building in the city centre.

After an employee of the food and civil supplies department tested positive, all offices on the ground floor of the mini-secretariat were sealed and sanitised.

The city registered 17 fresh cases on Thursday, taking the total number of positive cases to 844. With 14 discharged earlier in the day, 384 have been cured of the infection, while 408 are under treatment.

Of the 114 COVID deaths across the southern state since March 10, Bengaluru has accounted for 51 till date.

Bengaluru, Jul 14: The Karnataka government on Tuesday made changes to the Land Reforms Act 1961 through an ordinance to allow non-agriculturists to buy and own farmland for farming.

“The Land Reforms Act has been amended through an ordinance and notified after Governor Vajubhai R Vala gave his assent to it on Monday night,” a Revenue Department official told media persons.

It now permits non-farmers to buy farmland and grow food crops. But they can’t use it for other activities.

“Sections 79 A, B and C of the Act have been repealed, paving way for bona fide citizens to invest in farmland and take to farming as a hobby, passion or additional occupation, which is rewarding,” the official said.

The amended Act will enable the state to attract investment in the farm sector and boost food output. The farm sector’s contribution to the state’s gross domestic product (GDP) has been less than the manufacturing and services sectors over the last two decades.

Criticism by farmers, the Congress and the JD(S) since the cabinet approved changes on June 11 forced the state government to retain section 80 of the Act, with an amendment, to prevent sale of dam water irrigated farmland.

“The ordinance has also added a new section (80A), which says relaxations under the Act will not apply to land given to farmers under the Karnataka SC and ST (Scheduled Caste and Tribe) Act 1978,” the official said.

The changes permit mortgage of farmland only to the state-run institutions, firms and cooperative societies specified in the Act. The ordinance also makes legal cases pending in courts against the sections amended redundant as the new Act addresses the concerns raised in them.

“Besides generating substantial revenue for the state government, the Act will now allow farmers who find the occupation non-remunerative and risky due to droughts/floods and labour shortage to sell their surplus land to urban buyers,” the official said.

Ruling BJP Rajya Sabha member KC Ramamurthy from Bengaluru said the amended Act would allow any citizen to buy farmland.

“Though hundreds of people petitioned successive governments for the past 45 years to abolish the ‘draconian’ sections, they were ignored. I compliment Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and Revenue Minister R Ashoka for the decision to allow everyone to buy farmland irrespective of their occupation or profession,” Ramamurthy told media persons.

Bengaluru, Apr 19: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan on Sunday said that "only essential and critical number of" employees of the Information Technology (IT) companies will be allowed to work from offices from April 20 onwards in Bengaluru, while others will have to continue working from home.

"Only essential and critical number of employees required will be allowed to turn up. In the next two days, it will be reviewed and a suitable decision will be taken. 

All the details will be communicated to the IT companies," Narayan said here.

Earlier on Saturday, in a meeting to review COVID-19 situation in Karnataka, it was considered that one-third of the employees of IT and biotechnology companies could be allowed to work from the office premises, while the rest should continue to work from home.

Earlier on April 17, the Deputy CM, after holding a video conference meeting with heads of the IT and biotechnology companies, had told reporters that up to 50 per cent of the workforce would have the opportunity to function from office premises after April 20.