Close shave for Jet Airways flight after ATC spots tractor on Mangaluru runway

Bengaluru, Mar 28: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief DK Shivakumar on Saturday appealed to the authorities to arrange transport for migrant workers, stating that it is appalling to see their plight as they are walking hundreds of kilometres to their villages amid COVID-19 lockdown.
"Appalling to see the plight of poor migrant workers who are walking hundreds of kms to their villages. We cannot abandon our citizens, especially children, and put them at risk. Appealing to the authorities to arrange transport. Please take sufficient safety precautions as well," Shivakumar tweeted.
Hundreds of people, comprising mostly of migrant workers and their families, gathered at the Lal Kua in Uttar Pradesh from Delhi, Gurugram and other places, to take buses to their respective destinations amid the lockdown.
While the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had imposed a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Uttar Pradesh administration had decided to ply these buses to help thousands of migrant workers who were stuck in the national capital and had started returning on foot to their native places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, among others.

Bengaluru, Jul 20: Karnataka Minister for Primary and Higher Education S Suresh Kumar today said that the results of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) Examinations, held amidst Corona threat, will be announced in the first week of August.

Speaking to newsmen on Monday after visiting the evaluation centres in the City, said that the work is in full swing and it was proposed to announce the results by end of first week next month.

He said that the evaluation of the answer sheets are set to take another 10-12 days. Currently, evaluations of the answer sheets are taking place at 220 centres in the State.

Bengaluru, Feb 23: Bolstered by the Supreme Court's interim nod for the gazette notification of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal award by the Central government, Karnataka decided to allot funds for the drinking water project in the state's northwest region, an official said on Saturday.

"Funds will be allotted in the state budget for fiscal 2020-21 to complete the Kalasa-Banduri project across the Mahadayi river for supplying drinking water to the four drought-prone northern districts in the state," the official of the water resources department told media on anonymity.

As Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa also holds the finance portfolio, he has agreed to allocate funds for the project, held up for years in the legal battle with the neighbouring Goa and Maharashtra over the sharing of the river water among the three coastal states.

Yediyurappa is slated to present the state budget for the ensuing fiscal in the legislative assembly on March 2.

"We will resume the project work once the Centre notifies the award though it will be binding on the final outcome of the apex court's hearing the review petitions of Goa and Maharashtra against the Tribunal award," the official noted.

A division bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Hemant Gupta on Thursday passed an interim order on the Tribunal award, allowing the central water resources ministry to notify it for implementation and posted the case for final hearing in July.

The Tribunal on August 14, 2018 allocated 13.42 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of the river water to the southern state for irrigation and drinking water supply to towns and villages across Bagalkot, Belagavi, Dharwad and Gadag districts, which are in the arid region of the Deccan plateau.

The four districts are about 400-550 km northwest of Bengaluru in the southern state.

Of the 13.42 tmcft water, 5.5 tmcft will be used in the river basin and for diversion into the depleted Malaprabha reservoir while the balance 7.92 tmcft will be utilized for hydel power generation instead of allowing the water to go into the Arabian Sea on the state's west coast through Goa.

Goa, which opposed Karnataka's demand for 36.66 tmcft, was allocated 24 tmcft, while Maharashtra got 1.3 tmcft.

The Tribunal assessed that 188.06 tmc feet water is available at 75 per cent dependability.

The three-member Tribunal is headed by Chairman Justice J.M. Panchal, Justice Viney Mittal and Justice P.S. Naayana.

The Union government had set up the inter-state Tribunal on November 16, 2010 for the djudication of the Mahadayi basin water allocation among the three riparian and contiguous states.

Goa and Maharashtra claimed 122.6 tmc feet and 6.35 tmc feet of the river water respectively.

The Tribunal, which commenced sittings on September 6, 2012, held 1,209 sittings for over 6 years.

Supreme Court senior counsel F.S. Nariman represented the state before the Tribunal to present its case.

The Tribunal's chairman and two members inspected the river basin area across the three coastal states from December 12-24, 2013.

The 77km-long Mahadayi or Mandovi river originates at Bhimgad in the Western Ghats in Belagavi district and flows into the neighbouring Goa through Maharashtra and joins the Arabian Sea off the west coast.

Though the river flows 29 km in Karnataka and 52 km in Goa, its catchment area is spread over 2,032 km in the southern state as against 1,580 km in the western state (Goa).