Congress, communalism, casteism, crime, and corruption destroying Karnataka: Modi

Bengaluru, Jul 9: Alarmed over surging COVID-19 cases, the Karnataka government has decided to divide this tech city into containment zones to curb the spread of the pandemic, a state minister said on Thursday.

"The city will be divided into red, orange and yellow zones in commensurate with the number of Covid cases in them for containing the virus spread on war footing," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C. Madhuswamy told reporters here.

Cabinet ministers representing assembly segments in the city will be in-charge of the zones to ensure the cases are curbed with strict enforcement of lockdown guidelines, especially wearing mask and maintaining social distancing by the people in the confinement areas.

"Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has convened a meeting of ministers, MLAs, MPs and corporators of all the 198 civic wards across the city on Friday to discuss and draw an action plan to contain the pandemic," said Madhuswamy.

With 1,148 positive cases, the city''s Covid tally rose to 12,509 and active to 10,103, while 2,228 were discharged, including 418 on Wednesday, while 177 succumbed to the infection since March 9, with 23 in the last 24 hours.

"The Chief Minister ordered deploying more ambulances in the containment areas where cases have been spiking daily to rush Covid patients to the nearest hospital for immediate treatment," said Madhuswamy.

The city civic corporation -- Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) --has increased the containment zones to 3,181 due to more cases spiking, with southern and western suburbs accounting for most infections.

"The containment zones are concentrated more in the city''s southern and western suburbs. Active cases doubled over the last 8 days and shot up to a whopping 12,509 from 4,555 on June 30," an official said.

Refuting graft charges by opposition Congress leader Siddaramaiah in the purchase of medical equipment for treatment of Covid patients, Madhuswamy said the state government had not spent more than Rs 600 crore so far.

"We are running a government. Not a private office. We will give account. He (Siddaramaiah) is welcome to check the accounts and verify the documents," asserted the minister.

In a related development, the cabinet also approved an ordinance to increase the state contingency fund to Rs 500 crore from Rs 80 crore for the Covid-19 induced economic relief measures announced by the chief minister in June.

Bengaluru, June 14: Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government of Karnataka has once again urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led union BJP government to release GST compensation worth Rs 10,208 crore that is due for the state.

The request was placed with Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman during the 40th GST council meeting, in which Karnataka Home Minister and state’s representative to the council, Basavaraj Bommai, participated.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Bommai said that Rs 10,208 crore was due from the Centre as GST compensation for four four months - from March to May.

“We have requested the Centre to release Rs 1,460 crore - pertaining to GST compensation for the month of March - as soon as possible due to the dire financial conditions of the state,” he said.

Bommai said that the state was confident that the funds will be released soon, noting that Karnataka had recently received Rs 4,314 in GST compensation for three months, between December 2019 to February 2020.

Meanwhile, the state also proposed the Council to reduce penalty for delay in filing GST. Bommai said that while people are made to pay 18% of the tax as fine in delay in payment, Karnataka has asked the Centre to reduce the percentage by half to 9%.

Bengaluru, May 19: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has begun booking of tickets from May 18. Ticket counters have been opened after implementation of new guidelines for the fourth phase of COVID-19 nationwide lockdown.

People seeking to travel can book the tickets through KSRTC booking counters, authorised franchises booking counters and online, mobile booking, according to a release.

The advanced booking has started for Bengaluru-Shivamogga, Bengaluru-Mysuru, Bengaluru-Mangaluru routes, among others.

Bookings can be made upto 30 days in advance, as per the release.

Amid COVID-19, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation has restricted the operation services of the bus between 7 AM to 7 PM, said the release.

Passengers are permitted to travel with social distancing measures while the transport corporation will follow the standard operating procedure issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The MHA had issued updated guidelines after the implementation of the fourth phase of nationwide lockdown on May 17th.