Sri Ram Sena leader thrown out of coastal district for three months

Bengaluru, Jan 6: Chief minister BS Yediyurappa has plenty on his plate ahead of the 2020-21 state budget to be presented on March 5 what with the economic slowdown and a sizeable shortfall in revenue, but the biggest worry is the uncertainty surrounding Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation from the Centre.

There is also uncertainty over the state’s share under devolution of funds as per the 14th Finance Commission recommendation.

Finance department officials say that while Rs 3,500 crore is expected as GST compensation for every two months, the devolution of funds would have yielded about Rs 7,000 crore for the current fiscal. But the economic slowdown appears to have hit the Centre’s finances and is likely to impact the state’s share of funds.

“The GST payment for August-September came only in December and we are unsure how much we will get for October-November and December-January,” an official said. Estimates suggest the state’s share under devolution of funds could be reduced by half.

At a meeting of finance department officials last week, Yediyurappa is said to have admitted that unlike those states where non-BJP parties are in power — they have threatened agitations and court cases — the government cannot go “against” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s regime.

Instead, Yediyurappa has urged senior IAS finance department officials to lobby for funds with their counterparts in New Delhi. On his part, Yediyurappa is said to have already written to Modi and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to at least release the state’s share of GST compensation for the current calendar year of 2019. He is planning to personally meet the PM in Delhi to push the state’s case.

Mangaluru, Apr 3: The laboratory at District Wenlock Hospital has initiated trial for Covid 19 testing, close on the heels of receiving permission from state government.

Doctors, elected representatives and stakeholders had repeatedly demanded that a laboratory should be set up in the port city. Without the lab, the samples were sent either to Shivamogga or to Bengaluru for testing. When Heath Minister Sriramulu had visited Mangaluru on March 17, he had promised a lab in the city for testing of the samples.

Accordingly, the government gave permission for starting the laboratory at Wenlock Hospital. The process of registering the lab with Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) will be completed shortly. The laboratory will be fully operational only after it is registered.

Bengaluru, June 23: A frustrated chartered accountant has committed suicide after killing his wife and mother-in-law in two different cities of India.

The murder-murder-suicide came amid acrimonious divorce proceedings that might have also involved a property dispute, police said.

Amit flew to Bengaluru last weekend to kill his estranged wife at her Whitefield residence before returning to Kolkata, where he shot dead his mother-in-law and then killed himself at an upscale residential complex in North Kolkata on Monday evening.

Amit and his wife Shilpi Agarwal, who is also a CA, had been living separately since last the two years after their marriage turned sour.

Amit took his 10-year-old son from Bengaluru with him on Monday and dropped him at his uncle’s house before heading to his in-laws’ place Phoolbagan, police said.

Neighbours told cops they heard arguments “appeared to be” over some property documents that Amit wanted his in-laws — 70-year-old Subhas and 62-year-old Lalita Dhandhania — to sign.

The first gunshot was heard a little before 6.30pm, following which Subhas ran out of his flat, bolted the door from outside and took refuge inside his next-door neighbour’s apartment. Police arrived a few minutes later to find Amit and his mother-in-law dead. Police found a suicide note from the flat.