Dilwale overcomes 'intolerance' in Mangaluru; screening resumes

Bengaluru, Jul 15: Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has announced temporary halt of production at its plant in Bidadi, which is on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

“Halting production will be from July 14 (second shift) to July 22 (first shift) and this is in accordance with the directives issued by the Government of Karnataka as well as to support the Govt. in their constant efforts to flatten the curve of the rising Covid-19 positive cases in Karnataka,” a statement from the company said.

Bengaluru Urban and Rural, and other districts are, are under lockdown from 8 pm on July 14 to 5 am on July 22.

“Since the onset of the pandemic, TKM has adopted a very proactive and multi-faceted approach to safeguard the physical as well as the mental well-being of all its stakeholders including customers, its employees, dealer and supplier partners,” the company said.

“The office staff at TKM’s corporate and regional offices, continue to work from home to help mitigate risks. In addition to the safety protocols that are being followed, TKM has provided safety kits containing essential items like sanitisers, 3 ply masks and handwashes to 5000 employees, their family members and their neighbourhoods.

“TKM understands the urgency of the situation. During these difficult times, TKM is taking obligatory actions to contain further spread and will continue to respond in accordance with guidance issued by the Government and its internal standards,” it added.

Bengaluru, May 29: Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy on Thursday said the Centre has objected to the state's decision to increase working days at factories, and the matter would be discussed in the next cabinet meeting.

"....the Centre has raise objection to extending working days and has said it should be brought down. We will amend it....I will share the details after the next cabinet meet, the matter did not come up today (Thursday), we have received the letter," Madhuswamy told reporters in response to a question after the cabinet meeting.

He noted that a couple of states that had increased the working hours have withdrawn it. The Karnataka government had, on May 22, issued a notification allowing factories to extend working hours upto 10 hours a day and 60 hours a week till August 21. The extension of work hours is from the existing eight hours a day and 48 hours a week.

Pointing out that while announcing COVID-19 relief package, the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had announced Rs 5,000 per acre for maize farmers, Madhuswamy said while issuing the circular which mentioned that relief would be applicable to rabi crop, as it would not benefit many farmers.

Now, it has now been decided to give Rs 5,000 per acre to all maize farmers, irrespective of rabi or kharif. There were also several rules and regulations for barbers, autorickshaw and taxi drivers among others to claim their one-time compensation of Rs 5,000, the Minister said.

"We have decided to relax most of them (rules) other than those essential and give compensation, as regulations wouldn't have benefited many," he said. With five nominated seats of legislative council falling vacant on June 23, the cabinet has authorised the Chief Minister to nominate for 5 seats.

The cabinet also gave post-facto approval for Karnataka Repealing of Certain Enactments and Regional Law Bill 2020 that has been passed by the legislature.

Benagluru, Feb 27: The sudden hike in bus fares by the state-run transport corporation has triggered a public outrage and protests by the opposition Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) in Karnataka.

Terming the hike as anti-people and inflationary, the Congress urged the ruling BJP to withdraw it forthwith and spare the commuters from the additional burden.

"KSRTC and its affiliates should not further burden the people when the cost of living has gone up and its bus service is used by the majority in the absence of trains in many regions of the state," said Ravi Gowda of the Congress.

In a surprise announcement on Tuesday night, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and its two affiliates -- North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKSRTC )and North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKSRTC) -- increased bus fares by 12% with effect from Wednesday, drawing the ire of commuters and opposition parties alike.

Condemning the fare hike, JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy urged the KSRTC to roll back the revised fares and give relief to the common man reeling under price rise due to CGST, SGST and food inflation.

"The BJP government has deliberately increased the bus fare ahead of the state budget for 2020-21 fiscal on March 2, catching people unawares. Though student passes have been spared from the hike, regular passengers are forced to pay Rs 5-32 more instead of getting better efficiency, management and productivity," Kumaraswamy said in a statement in Bengaluru.

It's an additional burden on us, said Bengaluru resident K. Venkatesh, while adding,

"The 12 percent hike in bus fares by the KSRTC and its north-east and north-west affiliates from Wednesday will hit passengers hard and make commuting costly.”

"The fare hike will negate the state government's efforts to encourage public transport service and force passengers to travel on the train, which is cheaper, faster and safer," asserted Venugopal Gupta, a cloth merchant in the city.

Justifying the hike, KSRTC Managing Director Shivayogi Kalasad told media that the hike was inevitable due to the steady increase in diesel price, dearness allowance in staff salary and overall cost of operations.

"Since the last fare revision came in May 2014, the operational cost has gone up substantially due to Rs 11.27 per litre hike in diesel price, increase in DA to employees and repairing, maintenance and fleet management costs," Kalasad said.

The financial burden due to fuel price hike is Rs 261 crore, DA Rs 341 crore and operational cost Rs 601 crore per annum for KSRTC alone, he said.

"For the benefit of rural passengers, fares have been reduced to Rs 5 from Rs 7 for the first 3 km. There is no increase in fares for the first 12 km and up to first 6 km in express service," Kalasad added.