Drug gangs behind Sri Lanka Easter bombings, reveals President

Bengaluru, Feb 28: The Liquefied Petroleum Gas penetration in Karnataka is 'absolutely 100 per cent' due to the Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojana, Indian Oil Corporation Karnataka Executive Director D L Pramodh said here on Friday.

In 2014, LPG penetration in the State was only 68 per cent, but after the PMUY, massive number of gas connections were given in the last five years, he said, adding, "It is absolutely 100 per cent today."

"There are 1.6 crore LPG connections out of which around 31.5 lakh -- or around 20 per cent -- come under the PMUY. The 100 per cent LPG penetration in the state will help women in rural areas to make their kitchens smokeless. Against the national average of 2.88 cylinders per family per PMUY annually, the figure is Karnataka 3.4 cylinders in Karnataka," Pramodh told reporters.

On the initiative of blending ethanol with petrol, he said it's 8.6 per cent in Karnataka, the highest comparedto other states, where it's five per cent to 5.5 per cent. The state aims to increase it to 10 per cent. By March 31, the IOC would commission the Rs 10 crore Vapour Recovery System at the Devanagonthi terminal on the city outskirts which would ensure that vapour does not go out in the air when tankers are being filled with fuel. "This is an important measure taken tominimise pollution", he said.

Pramodh also said the IOC has started mobile fuel dispensers, delivering fuels at the doorsteps.

Regarding the IOC's preparedness for Electric Vehicle charging stations, Pramodh said the Ministry of Power has given the company a target to set up 500 charging stations across India in the first phase. The IOC has already signed MoUs with NTPC, Power Grid Corporation Limited, Hyundai Motors, Tech Mahindra and Tata Power in this regard.

In Karnataka, 58 sites have been identified for setting up charging and battery swapping stations.

"Total electric vehicle charging facilities planned by IOC in Karnataka by March 31 is 34, out of which 26 will be EVcharging sites and eight battery swapping stations," Pramodh said.

Bengaluru, Apr 26: Two businessmen brothers, Tajammul Pasha and Muzammil Pasha, in Karnataka's Kolar district have set out to help people in need amid the lockdown over the COVID-19 pandemic by selling their land for Rs 25 lakh.

On seeing daily wage labourers and their families in Kolar suffer during the lockdown, the brothers said they decided to sell their land and use the money to buy essentials and food grain for a large number of poor people.

The brothers also bought oil and cereals with the money. Then they set up a tent next to their house and started a community kitchen to make food for labourers and homeless people.

"Our parents died early. When we shifted to our maternal grandmother's place at  Kolar, people from communities, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims helped us survive without any religious bias," said Tajammul Pasha, visibly emotional.

The Pasha brothers are into banana cultivation and real estate. Tajammul was five and his sibling Muzammil was three when they lost their parents. They had to move from Chickbalapor to Kollar, where their grandmother lived.

"We were brought up in poverty. We survived because of the support of people of all communities and religions. We have signed the society agreement bond and handed it over to our friend who purchased our site and gave the money," the brothers said.

Once the lockdown ends and the land registrar's office opens, the remaining steps to transfer the land will be completed, they said.

So far the two brothers have supplied food grain, oil, sugar and other essentials to over 3,000 families. They have also given hand sanitizers and masks to the poor.

The Kolar administration has issued passes to their volunteers so that they can help in this difficult time.

The number of coronavirus cases in India has increased to 24,506, including 775 deaths, the Home Ministry said today, adding that 1,429 cases and 57 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

Amid a countrywide lockdown to check the spread of the highly contagious illness, which began on March 25, the government last night issued an order to allow neighbourhood shops to remain open with conditions; malls across India continue to remain shut.

Newsroom, Feb 7: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent statement that there is no detention camp in India is no more a lie. That doesn’t mean that there are no detention camps in the country, but the name of the camps have changed. 

In December, at a mega rally at Ramlila Maidan, meant to launch the BJP's campaign for the assembly elections in Delhi, Mr Modi had stated: “The rumour of detention centres being spread by the Congress and urban Naxals is totally false. This is being done with a bad intention to destroy the country, it’s filled with evil motives; this is a lie, lie, lie.” He had further claimed: “Neither are any of the country’s Muslims being sent to detention centres nor is there any detention centre in India”

In reality there are at least six detention camps in jails in Assam to house foreigners found staying in India illegally. A month prior to PM’s statement, Union minister of the state for home affairs Nityanand Rai had revealed that the six camps in Assam housed 1,043 foreigners — 1,025 Bangladeshis and 18 Myanmarese. Apart from these, at least ten new detention centres are coming up.

Outside Assam too, the Maharashtra government, under the then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, had identified land for the state’s first detention centre for illegal immigrants.

Besides, in a case relating to illegal immigrants in Karnataka High Court in November this year, the Centre had told the court that it had written to all state governments in 2014 and sent a follow-up letter in 2018 to have detention centres to house foreign nationals illegally staying in India.

Karnataka’s first detention centre, apparently meant to lodge illegal immigrants and migrants overstaying in the country, is already open in Sondekoppa village on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The facility with several rooms, a kitchen and toilets has been kept ready on the directions of the government. 

Meanwhile, Union Minister of state for home Nityanand Rai has told the Lok Sabha that the name "detention centre" has now been changed to "holding centre".