Karnataka's Davanagere district reports 21 COVID-19 positive cases

Hubli, April 3: Twelve people including 5 women as well as 50 unidentified people have been booked for allegedly pelting stones at police personnel in Mantur area of Hubli on Friday.

The police were allegedly attacked for stopping people from offering Friday prayers at a mosque, during the ongoing lockdown put in place in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

"12 people including five women and 50 unidentified people have been booked for stone-pelting at police personnel in Mantur area of Hubli today. The women have been taken into custody while police are searching for the others," said Hubli-Dharwad Police Commissioner R Dilip.

The Police Commissioner further said, "Some prominent people of the community had also urged the devotees to go to their homes but they got agitated."

"Four policemen have sustained minor injuries in the incident," he said adding that "legal action will be taken against the culprits." 

Mangaluru, July 17: For the first time, Dakshina Kannada saw over 3,00 new coronavirus cases in a single day. The coastal district today recorded 311 positive cases. 

The number of active cases in the district is 1,725 while its overall tally stands at 3,074.

Out of the 26,242 samples tested so far, 23,168 were tested negative. 

As many as 1,278 people were discharged after fully recovering so far including 115 people who were discharged today.

The district also recorded deaths of 8 covid-19 patients in past 24 hours including a woman. The deceased are aged between 53 years and 78 years. 

With this the total number of deaths in the district mounted to 71 including 12 patients from other districts who were admitted in hospitals here. 

Meanwhile, Karnataka reported 3,693 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, which raised the virus case count to 55,115. The number of recoveries reached 20,757, including 1,028 on Friday.

At 115 fatalities, the state witnessed its biggest single-day jump. Bengaluru accounted for 75 of these 115 deaths. The number of active cases in the state are 33,205, including 508 patients who are in ICU. The state's death toll reached 1,147 while that of Bengaluru stands at 582.

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.