Bishop, accused of raping nun, hands over charge as Vatican forms probe panel

Tirupati, Jul 5: The Karnataka government will soon build a massive pilgrim amenities complex and marriage hall at Tirumala, the hill abode of Lord Venkateswara, at an estimated cost of Rs 200 crore, a temple official said here on Saturday.

The state would soon submit a blueprint for the construction of the Rs 200 crore mega complexes to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) that governs the hill shrine, the official said.

Consequently, based on the designs, TTD would construct the complexes with the given fund and after completion, they would be handed over to the Karnataka government, he said.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa would lay the foundation stone for the mammoth complexes on the hills some time next month, he said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is likely to take part in the programme, he added.

Bengaluru, Jun 16: Continuing easing of restrictions under 'unlock-1,' the Karnataka government has allowed shooting and production of films and television programmes in the state.

In a clarification, Principal Secretary Revenue N Manjunath Prasad said, shooting and production of all films and television programmes that were stopped in between due to lockdown can be allowed.

It is also allowed to continue with the post-production activities of film and television programmes after completing the shooting, it said.

The permission is conditional as it is subjected to adhering of the national directives issued in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, and standard operating procedures prescribed by the Department of Information and Public Relations.

The clarification said permission can be given as film and television shooting and production activities are not banned under guidelines issued by the centre and the state government recently.

Bengaluru, Jun 18: Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah has accused the BJP-led government of not passing the benefit of the low price of crude to the common man and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps to bring down prices of petroleum products.

Hitting out at the BJP-led government, he termed it as "opportunistic" and said the price of petroleum products were being increased when people were facing difficulties due to COVID-19.

"It is very disheartening to witness and unprecedented opportunistic government which is trying to extract every pound and flesh from the common man, that too when the whole country is suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic. This is in the backdrop of the continuous price hike in the last 10 days," said the letter was written on Wednesday.

The Congress leader said that the policy decisions taken by the government "with respect to managing fuel sources are inconsistent with the prudent measures generally adopted".

"When the price of crude oil was remarkably low in March, April and May 2020, your government was very reluctant to pass on the benefits to the people by reducing the fuel prices proportionately, but, instead, your government continued to capitalise by increasing the excise duty," he said.

He said the government had also "failed" in the last six years to increase the oil storage capacity which could have been used for the country's advantage when the international crude oil price fell really low.

He said the government should roll back the excise duty and help in the reduction of fuel prices.

"The reduced burden will help the common man to have additional money in hand that will be spent on essential goods and services which will ultimately help them tide over these difficult times," he said.