Congress leader lashes out at party over JSW land deal

TNN
June 6, 2019

Bengaluru, Jun 6: Barely 24 hours after senior Congress leader R Ramalinga Reddy slammed leaders of his party for the poor show in the Lok Sabha elections, another veteran Congressman, HK Patil, hit out at his colleague, KJ George, over a land deal.

Patil criticized the Congress-JD(S) coalition government for selling 3,666 acres of land (2,000 acres in 2006 and 1,666 acres in 2007 at Toranagallu, Sandur taluk, Ballari district) to Sajjan Jindal-promoted JSW Steel for a concessional price. This, despite the company owing the state-owned Mysore Mineral Limited (MML) Rs 1,200 crore for failing to honour its commitments and unilaterally hiking premium on iron ore in its joint venture.

Ever since the cabinet decided two weeks ago to execute an absolute sale deed in favour of JSW for 2,666 acres of land — the company has constructed its steel plant and township on the land — the government has been struggling to justify the decision. Opposition from within and outside has landed the coalition in a spot of bother.

Last week, the government had claimed that Jindal fulfilled all conditions and George, who is minister of large and medium size industry in HD Kumaraswamy’s cabinet, had claimed that Jindal had no dues pending towards the state government.

However, on Wednesday, Patil released documents on his official Twitter handle citing cases filed in Bengaluru’s city civil court and also a dispute between the two parties that suggest JSW still owes the government over Rs 1,200 crore. Patil claimed he had even written two letters to Kumaraswamy in this regard, but they were ignored.

The documents included findings of the Comptroller and Accountant General (CAG) in a report probing the losses in MML. The CAG noted alleged faults in JSW’s dealings with MML and its failure to honour its agreements with the PSU.

Neither George, who was flying to Delhi, nor officials from the industries department were available for comments.

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News Network
March 14,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 14: Infosys carried out evacuation at one of its satellite offices here on Friday after an employee came in contact with a suspected case of COVID-19, according to the company.

"We have taken a decision to evacuate one of our satellite buildings in Bengaluru as a precautionary measure, as one of our employees had been in contact with an individual with suspected COVID-19," the company said in its statement.

"Employees have been directed to work from home, and there is no impact on our client deliverables as a result of this temporary evacuation," it added.

On the other hand, Google also informed media on Friday that an employee at its Bengaluru office has tested positive for the COVID-19 and the firm has directed all its employees in that office to work from home as a precautionary measure.

"We can confirm that an employee from our Bangalore office has been diagnosed with COVID-19. They were in one of our Bangalore offices for a few hours before developing any symptoms. The employee has been on quarantine since then," Google had said in a statement. The search engine giant has asked colleagues who were in close contact with the employee to quarantine themselves and monitor their health.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

Coronavirus, which originated in the Wuhan city of China, has so far spread to more than 100 countries infecting over 1,20,000 people. India has reported two deaths and 82 confirmed cases of the deadly coronavirus.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared the coronavirus outbreak a 'pandemic' and expressed deep concern.

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News Network
March 13,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 13: Amid coronavirus outbreak, all universities, malls, and clubs will remain closed for a week in Karnataka. Karnataka CM Yediyurappa has said no one should travel unless it's an emergency. "All malls, cinema halls, pubs, wedding ceremonies and other large gatherings in the Karnataka have been banned for another one week," Chief Minister Yediyurappa said. This comes hours after the Uttar Pradesh government had decided that all schools, colleges situated in the state will be closed till 31st March 2020.

Following the decision, the Karnataka government on Friday asked doctors and other health staff to work on public holidays also till the spread of coronavirus is contained. Leaves and all week off of state health ministry workers have also been canceled. The government issued a circular stating that certain emergency measures are being taken to control the spread of coronavirus is some parts of the State.

"To manage things in a result-oriented manner, doctors, office personnel, paramedical staff and other permanent and contract employees in hospitals coming under the Health Department have been instructed to work on all public holidays." the government order read.

The decision comes after 76-year-old man in Karnataka's Kalaburagi died of coronavirus and became India's first COVID-19 victim. 46 people in Kalaburagui have been kept under coronavirus quarantine since then. Out of 46, 31 have been put under the "high risk" category. The high-risk persons were shifted to ESIC hospital. Officials said four family members of the man have displayed flu symptoms and their swab samples have been sent for testing in Bengaluru.

Earlier on Friday, an employee of Google's Bengaluru office tested positive for n-coronavirus, taking the total COVID-19 positive cases in Bengaluru to 5. India's total coronavirus positive count rose to 75. Several other states including capital Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh invoked various sections of the epidemic disease act. Meanwhile, the Indian Army has also called off all recruitment drive in wake of coronavirus outbreak.

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News Network
March 26,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 26: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Working President Eshwara Khandre on Thursday suggested to the State government to utilize the infrastructure available at the International Exhibition Centre on the outskirts of the City on Tumakuru Road near Nelamangala, about 15 km from here, for quarantine and treatment of people affected with the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

In a statement here today, Mr Khandre said that the dreaded disease is spreading like wildfire and according to experts the figure may touch one Lakh in the State. 

Hence there is necessary to have adequate infrastructure found well in advance and utlise if necessity arises. The Center is built on a 57-acre land and there are sufficient space available and since it is on the outskirts of the city there is no threat of the virus spreading to the Bengaluru City.

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