Mangaluru: Two officials get 1 year jail for accepting Rs 3,000 bribe

Bengaluru, Jul 1: The Meteorological Department has issued a yellow alert and forecasted heavy rains for three coastal districts and 12 more in the south interior Karnataka region, an official said on Tuesday afternoon.

"Thunderstorm with lightning is likely to occur at isolated places over south interior Karnataka from Tuesday to Wednesday," said a Met official.

For Bengaluru city, the Met department has forecast a generally cloudy sky with light rain for the next three days.

Coastal Karnataka -- Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts have been issued a yellow alert for the next two days with thundershowers and gusty winds.

Winds blowing at speed of 40-50 km per hour are expected on the coast and the Met department warned fishermen against venturing into the sea.

Meanwhile, heavy showers on Sunday night in Vijayapura district gave rise to flash floods in the Doni river and Sogali stream.

An overflowing Doni river submerged the Talikote - Hadaginal bridge, a remnant from the colonial era, and also submerged some agricultural lands. Only recently, these agricultural lands were sown with toor dal plants.

Similarly, many SSLC students also struggled to cross the bridge to reach their examination centres on Monday.

Many houses were also flooded due to the rainfall at Nalatwad and Talikote taluk. Muddebihal, Basavana Bagewadi and Sindagi taluks also witnessed heavy rainfall.

A 40-year-old farmer from Dharwad district was washed away in the Tuppari Halla stream, which is prone to flood during the monsoon season.

Likewise, a truck carrying cotton also got washed away in a stream in Yadgir district.

"There is an offshore trough and a circulation, because of which rain will continue in the coastal area. Only Malnad has not got sufficient rain this year. Probably after two days, Malnad may get some rains," Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) Director Srinivas Reddy said. Otherwise, entire state got normal rainfall, said Reddy, though it is not active over Malnad.

Bengaluru, Jun 8: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief DK Shivakumar on Sunday said that Congress is a secular party and they clearly do not want any third candidate from BJP to win the Rajya Sabha elections.

Speaking to news agency, Shivakumar said, "We are a secular party. We are very clear that we don't want any BJP third candidate to win the Rajya Sabha election. My leader, Sonia Gandhi will take a call on it."
"My party leaders have taken a call on HD Devegowda Ji, very soon they will come with an announcement," he added.

Shivakumar had on Saturday said that the party has decided to field one candidate for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

He said the party would soon take a decision on the issue of support to former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda's candidature to the Upper House.
The elections to fill the vacant 18 Rajya Sabha seats from seven states will be held on June 19.

Dubai, May 9: A flight scheduled to bring back Kannadigas, especially Mangalureans stranded in Dubai on May 14 has been rescheduled to May 12.

The flight will take off from Dubai at 4.10 pm UAE time and reach Mangaluru International Airport at 9.10 pm IST on May 12, announced Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda in a tweet.

The flight was earlier scheduled for May 12 and then it was postponed to May 14. Now, it has been rescheduled to May 12.

It is said that constant persuasion from NRIs in UAE led to advance the paid evacuation drive.

In fact, Karnataka was missing in the list of states to receive special flights when Ministry of External Affairs arranged them to bring stranded Indians at UAE. Special flights were arranged only to Kerala and Tamil Nadu people stranded at UAE in the first stage.

Thanks to Karnataka NRI Forum of UAE which opened helpline to seek assistance to Kannadigas, nearly 2000 Kannadigas have registered for assistance in which 127 pregnant women, 27 senior citizens, 700 people who have lost jobs aftermath of coronavirus sought assistance from NRI forum.

In the first flight, priority will be given to people with medical emergency and pregnant women. Once the passengers reach Mangaluru, they will be quarantined in their home districts.