Mangaluru may not face drinking water shortage this summer

Feb 3: The Karnataka government is probably the only state to have so many nodal agencies to deal with investment proposals. There is the KIADB, Karnataka Udyoga Mitra, State High Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC), State Level Single Window Clearance Committee (SLSWCC) and District Level Single Window Clearance Committee.

While the government claims these have been created to speed up the process of setting up industries, they’re only delaying it. “A four-to-five year delay in acquiring land has become the norm,’’ say industry sources.

“These entities are only adding layers of obstacles to investors and is not really helping industries,” said a senior IAS officer.

While DLSWCCs are headed by deputy commissioners are empowered to clear investment proposals up to Rs 15 crore, SLSWCC, headed by the industries minister, clears proposals more than Rs 15 crore and up to Rs 500 crore. Proposals worth more than Rs 500 crore have to be cleared by SHLCC chaired by the CM. These entities have to meet regularly and clear proposals. But often, these meetings don’t happen as scheduled. “The delay starts from here,” said Vasant Ladava, industrialist and member of Karnataka Industries and Commerce, Bengaluru.

The single-window agencies involving representatives of departments like industries, revenue, pollution control board and forest are supposed to collectively give necessary clearances required for industries. “But, of late, they have become only project approvers without other responsibilities, leaving investors in the lurch,” said Ladava.

Bengaluru, July 17: An infant with heart-related complications died after 10 private hospitals in the city allegedly refused to admit him over coronavirus fears.

In search of a hospital to treat his one-month-old child, the helpless father drove around for 200km in the city. The child breathes its last after suffering for 36 hours.

The infant’s health worsened around 11am on Sunday. “A doctor from a nearby clinic visited our house and said the baby had heart-related issues. As advised, we decided to shift the child to a private hospital,” the father said. The family lives in Basaveshwaranagar.

The parents went to several private hospitals, but in vain. “We visited hospitals in Bavaveshwaranagar, Chord Road, Sheshadripuram, Goraguntepalya and Yeshwanthpur. None of them agreed to treat our baby, and we returned home at night,” the father said. 

“On Monday morning, we started the journey again. This time, we went to a hospital near Jayadeva flyover. We were driving near Marathahalli when our child stopped breathing. We rushed to a nearby private hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead,” he said.

Bengaluru, Feb 12: Mohammed Nalapad, the rogue son of Karnataka Congress leader NA Harris, who is out on bail in a 2018 case of him bashing up a man at a pub, has now rammed his luxury car into vehicles, injuring four people on Bengaluru road.

The incident took place on Sunday on the Ballari Road where Nalapad was rash driving his car. The car hit a biker and an autorickshaw, injuring four people. He immediately got off his car and fled riding a friend's car.

The biker has suffered a fracture in his leg and is undergoing treatment at a hospital.

According to police, soon after the accident a man appeared before police to claim responsibility for the accident.

Ravikante Gowde, Joint Commissioner of Police said, "A man named Balakrishna came to surrender as the one who was driving the car. Investigation has, however, showed that it was Nalapad who was driving when he met with the accident. The investigating officer has issued him a notice to appear before the police."

BJP spokesperson S Prakash has said, "A case under the Goonda Act should be filed against Nalapad and the court should take cognisance of this and cancel his bail. The father has no control over son. He is a serial offender who is harming the public on a repeated basis."

Nalapad was earlier arrested in 2018 in the Bengaluru pub incident in which he and his associate bashed up the son of a prominent businessman in the city. Nalapad Harris is out on bail after remaining in judicial custody for three months in the case of attempt to murder after the 2018 midnight brawl.