Karnataka to bypass transparency act to hasten coal procurement

DHNS
October 25, 2017

Bengaluru, Oct 25: In the wake of acute shortage of coal, the state government has decided to procure coal bypassing the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) Act, Energy Minister D K Shivakumar said on Tuesday.

The state government will invoke Section 4 of the KTPP Act to bypass the tender procedure for coal procurement from the Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL), a subsidiary of the Coal India Ltd (CIL). This, he said, will avoid delay of two to three months, and ensure immediate lifting and transportation of coal to Karnataka.

Shivakumar told reporters that the present coal availability would meet only half a day’s requirement of the thermal power generating stations of the state. One of the main factors for the crisis was the shortage in supply of coal by WCL to Karnataka. The company had supplied only 43% of state’s coal demand between April and October, he added.

Another reason for the crisis was the cancellation of six coal blocks in Maharashtra following the Supreme Court ‘coal scam’ verdict. Karnataka has been unable to lift coal from these blocks for the last 30 months, owing to the lawsuits filed in the apex court. The KPCL has also paid a penalty of Rs 447 crore to the Ministry of Coal and sought reallotment of the coal blocks.

Incidentally, the state BJP had recently accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar of causing a loss to the exchequer by paying the penalty.

Dismissing the charges as baseless, Shivakumar said that the state had incurred losses of Rs 1,500 crore in the last 30 months, for being unable to lift coal from these blocks.

Shivakumar said that following Karnataka’s appeal, the Ministry of Power had intervened and directed WCL to supply 3 lakh MT of coal immediately. However, Karnataka has to bear the responsibility of transporting the coal -- hence the exemption under the Act.

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 9,2020

Mangaluru, May 9: An Indian expatriate worker from Karnataka’s coastal district of Dakshina Kannada died of in Dubai after he suffered a cardiac arrest.

The deceased has been identified as Yashwant, 37, hailing from Malali Kajila House in Tenkulipady village, on the outskirts of Mangaluru.

He was working as an air-conditioner mechanic in Dubai for the last two years.

As per sources, he suffered a heart attack. However, the exact cause of this death is yet to be known.

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News Network
February 18,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 18:  A fan of Kannada film star Darshan smashed the face of a police constable with a boulder when the latter asked him to come in the queue to a party to celebrate the star’s birthday.

The incident happened past midnight on February 15 near the residence of the film star where his birthday was being celebrated.

The injured police constable has been identified as Devaraj, attached to the Jnana Bharathi police station.

The film star’s managers had not made arrangements to handle a huge crowd that gathered near his residence and police had a tough time controlling the crowd.

Constable Devaraj was deputed to duty at the party and tried to get the crowd to fall in line.

As the police carried out a mild lathi-charge to control the crowd, a fan of Darshan came up with a boulder in his hand and smashed the face of the constable Devaraj from very close distance. The constable collapsed on the spot and the attacker ran away.

The impact was such that Devaraj’s nose was fractured and he sustained an eye injury. He was admitted to a private hospital and his condition is said to be serious.

The R R Nagar police have registered a case under IPC sections 353 and 352. The cops have launched a hunt for the accused and they are obtaining CCTV footage from the spot.

A complaint is being registered against the organisers of the event and an investigation is on. Several neighbours of Darshan have also complained to the police about the chaos on February 15.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Mangaluru, Feb 10: Life of a 40–year-old man, who suffered a massive cardiac arrest, was saved by an ambulance driver who covered 80-km distance between Dharmasthala and Mangaluru in just 40 minutes.

The patient, a Chikkaballapur native sustained a heart attack near Sakleshpur on Saturday while he was on his way to Dharmasthala. He was provided preliminary treatment at a private hospital in Ujire, where doctors advised his relatives to shift him to a hospital in Mangaluru immediately.

The patient’s condition was critical and the odds were completely against him. Moreover owing to the ongoing double lane project work, the road too had been dugout. Despite all this, ambulance driver Hameed drove at a fast pace and managed to take the patient to the hospital within 40 minutes.

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