Karnataka govt to hold first of it's kind virtual job fair on July 10

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.

Belgaum: Canon, Epson and Nikon reside in a house named "Click" in Karnataka's Belgaum district.

The newly built house of photographer couple Ravi and Krupa Hongal, which resembles a giant DSLR camera, has not only enamoured locals but has become quite a sensation on social media.

The three-storied camera-shaped house located in Shastri Nagar is an expression of passion and love for the art of photography of the couple whose children- three boys- have all been named after the iconic camera brands.

Their names ''Canon'', ''Epson'' and ''Nikon'' feature prominently on the house whose exterior resembles a camera. Just like a camera, the building has a glass window shaped as a viewfinder and another as a lens. It sports a wide film strip, a flash and even a memory card.

The walls of the house walls and its interior have graphics related to photography.

"I have been photographing since 1986. Building this house is like a dream come true. We also named our 3 children-Canon, Nikon and Epson. These all are three camera names. I love the camera and hence named them on camera companies name. My family were opposed to it, but we remain adamant," photographer Ravi told media persons.

Karnataka: A photographer couple, Krupa Hongal&Ravi Hongal, has built a camera-shaped house in Belgaum. Krupa (pic3) says,"It's a dream come true. We also named our 3 children-Canon,Nikon&Epson." Ravi (pic4) says,"We borrowed money for it&also sold our previous house."(14.07.20) pic.twitter.com/8Mkh1JOUk1

— ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020
The photographer says the couple had to borrow money from relatives and friend for constructing the house. "We also sold our previous house to build this house," he added.

Krupa said that it was their cherished dream to build a house like a camera.

"My husband is a photographer. It was our dream to build a house like a camera. We planned and built this house. We feel like we are living inside a different world, inside a camera. I am very proud of my husband," she said.

Canon, their elder child said, "My friends used to ask me whether it was my real name. Now, I tell them yes, photography is my father's passion and hence he named me Canon."

On social media, the picture of the unique shaped house has been shared widely.

"This is called love for the passion," said one user on Twitter.

Another user commented: "A camera-obsessed photographer from India builds a camera-shaped house! 49-year-old Ravi Hongal has spent over $95,000 building the 3-story house, which looks like a camera in the town of Belgaum in India."

The family seems to be indeed living a picture-perfect dream.