Bengaluru, Apr 15: Police on Wednesday conducted surprise raids at nearly 120 shops in Bengaluru following complaints of black marketing and sale of foodgrains above the MRP rate.
Sandip Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Bengaluru in a tweet said that action has been initiated against these shopkeepers.
Though the government has maintained the supply chain of essential items, few shopkeepers have used the lockdown opportunity to charge higher prices for essential items.
Bengaluru, May 17: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Transport Minister Laxman Savadi on Sunday wrote to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari requesting to issue new lockdown guidelines including permission to operate public transport and said the lockdown has caused a financial loss of Rs 16,00 crore to all four Karnataka Transport Undertakings.
In view of these problems, the state Transport Minister requested Gadkari to permit the deployment of Non-AC buses on scheduled routes to ensure the adequacy of services.
The four State Transport Undertakings (STUs) in Karnataka which are providing bus-based public transport services within the state and to the neighbouring states are Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC).
"KSRTC, NWKRTC and NEKRTC operate buses for mofussil services i.e. Interdistrict, intradistrict and interstate, whereas BMTC operates only in urban and suburban areas in the city of Bengaluru. The four STUs put together hold a fleet of about 24,900 buses including 1,520 air-conditioned buses and operate about 71.00 lakh km. per day and carries about 98.00 lakh passengers every single day," Savadi outlined in the letter.
The Minister said due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the lockdown that ensued have brought regular bus operations and functioning to a grinding halt.
"This has caused a devastating impact on the operations of all the four STUs due to the combination of lack of revenue and continuing fixed costs such as salaries and pensions to staff, payables against existing loans etc. It has been estimated that the lockdown has caused a financial loss of INR 1,600/- crore to these four STUs," he added.
Savadi said even after post-COVID lockdown, operations and revenues won't reach its previous demand& supply patterns in the next six to eight months due to reduced economic activity and users' perceived risk of contacting COVID in public transport.
In addition to that, "occupancy should be allowed up to seating capacity (without standees). This is essential to meet minimal demand," he said in the letter.
"The crew should wear facemask and hand gloves. The crew with health issues should not be deployed. The face masks should be made mandatory for all the passengers. Only asymptomatic persons should be allowed to travel in public transport. The Government of India may consider staggering working hours for various sectors to reduce peak hour traffic demand," the minister listed out these recommendations in the letter.
Savadi said that with social distancing norm of reduced seating capacity in public transport, it will not be possible to provide transport facility to all the daily passengers. This will create demand for more buses, which cannot be met.
"Restrictions on public transport will lead to passenger commute by overcrowding in smaller vehicles like cars, maxi cabs, goods tempos etc. which will adversely affect preventive measures," he added.
Therefore, Savadi requested Union Minister to look into the above matter and issue fresh guidelines to all the states / UT's.
Bengaluru, Jul 24: Karnataka Government on Friday issued an order regarding the refixation of rates for RT-PCR testing and Rapid Antigen testing for private laboratories in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state induced Task Force Committee has revised the rate of RT-PCR testing to cost Rs 2,000 per test and Rapid Antigen testing for private samples to cost Rs 700 per sample.
Ceiling rate for private samples in private laboratories including screening test and confirmatory test is Rs 3,000 per test, read the order
The cost is inclusive of the price of Personal protective equipment (PPE) kit, stated the government in the order.
Karnataka has reported 5,007 new COVID-19 positive cases and 110 deaths on Friday.
The total number of cases stands at 85,870 including 52,791 active cases and 1,724 deaths, added the state Government.
Bengaluru, Aug 5: Touted as a first of its kind in the nation, a mobile Covid-19 lab was inaugurated on Wednesday by the Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar.
The lab, approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) can do 9,000 RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) tests per month, an official press release said here. "This is a unique lab having all safety features and capable of producing 100% accurate results within four hours," Dr Sudhakar was quoted as saying in the press release.
The Indian Institute of Science (IISC) had developed the lab and handed it over to the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).
The mobile lab can also be used for molecular diagnostic-testing and can be deployed in coronavirus hot spots quickly, the release said adding, apart from Covid-19, the lab can be utilised for testing H1N1, HCV, TB, HPV and HIV among others.
Comments
Need tough punishment.
Instead of helping with lesser price, troubling the people. These are cruels.
Add new comment