ATS team in Bangalore and Bhatkal for Mumbai blast clues

July 17, 2011

Mumbaii

Bangalore/Bhatkal, July 17: A team of officials of Mumbai's Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Sunday reached Bangalore in connection with the Mumbai serial blasts probe.


The team had visited Bhatkal in Uttar Kannada district on Saturday. Speaking in Bangalore on Sunday, Jyoti Prakash Mirji, the Bangalore commissioner, said the city police will cooperate with the team and help them with their investigation.


He alo said a team from the Bangalore police will also visit Mumbai in order to study the modus operandi of the operators and look for any similarity between the Mumbai blast and the balsts that had taken place in Bangalore last year.


Though officials did not confirm it, sources in the police department said one of the ATS teams, which is investigating the serial blasts case, visited Bhatkal.


Meanwhile, a senior police official said that since Indian Mujahideen (IM) is suspected to have carried out the blasts, the ATS team had visited Bhatkal town.


"As Bhatkal is the hometown of Riyaz Bhatkal and his brother Iqbal, founders of Indian Mujahideen, teams probing blast cases visit Bhatkal expecting crucial information about the planning and execution of blasts," he said.


However, the officer said the chances of a breakthrough in the investigation from the Bhatkal visit were very slim.


"Some of the suspects in Bhatkal are used to police investigation following blasts. They know that police will question them after any blast and hence they usually leave Bhatkal after the blasts. In most cases, investigation teams return empty handed," he said.


Meanwhile, the city police plan to visit Mumbai in the coming week. The team will examine all the scenes of the blasts and gather information about what substances were used in the bombs. They will tally them with material used in the bombs used in the 2008 serial blasts and Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in 2010 in Bangalore.


Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Alok Kumar explained, "We will share the information with Mumbai police. If there are similarities in the Mumbai blasts and those in Bangalore, we can work together since the outfit behind the blasts could be same."

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News Network
June 1,2020

Manglauru, Jun 1: The southwest monsoon has made an onset over Kerala, marking the commencement of the four-month long rainfall season, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday.

"The southwest monsoon has made an onset over Kerala," IMD director general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said.

The four-month monsoon season from June to September accounts for 75 per cent of rainfall in the country.

Private forecaster Skymet Weather on May 30 had declared arrival of monsoon, but the IMD had differed, saying conditions were not ripe then for such an announcement.

Orange alert

Meanwhile, coastal Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district, which is receiving sporadic rains for past couple of days, is on orange alert.

Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh declared the orange alert following IMD’s prediction of heavy rainfall in the region.

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News Network
May 28,2020

May 28: The Karnataka State Election Commission on Thursday announced postponement of gram panchayat polls citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Out of 6,025 gram panchayats, the tenure of 5,800 gram panchayats will end by June-August 2020.

"After examining the feasibility of conducting general elections to gram panchayats, the State Election Commission, considering the current situation as exceptional circumstance, has decided to temporarily postpone the general elections to the gram panchayats," the SEC said in a release.

It said after examining the situation in the days to come, the decision will be taken on holding the general elections to the gram panchayats.

The CEC also states that report by Deputy Commissioners of districts on holding the elections was verified and it has been found that district administrations are involved in COVID-19 related work and there will be shortage of staff and transport facilities for the elections. Besides, there would be a problem in maintaining law and order.

Last week through a letter to Deputy Commissioners of districts, the commission had sought opinion on holding panchayat polls amid the COVID-19 crisis. It had also pointed out that electoral roll needs to be prepared and reservations had to be allocated as per the new amendments.

Stating that the state election commission's decision to postpone gram panchayat elections was against the provisions of the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act 1993, the Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah said the Congress will question this "undemocratic act" in the court of law.

He accused the commission of playing to the BJP's tune and said the congress will protest the decision at gram panchayat level.

Opposition parties in the state, especially congress, have been demanding elections.

The government was in favour of postponement of polls and wants to have administrative committees to govern the panchayats, until the polls are held, according to government sources.

The Congress, raising apprehension about administrative committees, has accused the government of conspiring to have ruling BJP workers as its members.

A congress delegation had last week submitted a petition to State Election Commissioner B Basavaraju and urged the Commission to hold elections.

The congress had even suggested continuation of sitting panchayat members until the polls are held, instead of appointing administrative committees.

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News Network
April 5,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 5: The COVID-19 related lockdown has substantially improved the air quality of Bengaluru, taking it from satisfactory level to good, a senior state pollution control board offcial said here on Sunday.

"During the course of the lockdown 19 problem, we reached good position from satisfactory.

It is between zero to 50 AQI (Air Quality Index) now. We have good quality air," the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board member secretary Basavaraj Patil told PTI.

He said the indicator for knowing the air quality in

"If the AQI is zero to 50 then it is good. If it is 50 to 100 then it is satisfactory. 101 to 150 is moderate and if it is 151 to 200, then it is poor, he explained.

Patil said as per available recrods, there has been a 60 to 65 per cent reduction in pollution during the lockdown.

The city railway station and Peenya industrial area, which used to be among the areas with highest AQI, has seen pollution levels come down significantly, he said.

Another major contributor of pollution was construction activities, which too had ground to a halt due to the lockdown, resulting in zero dust emission.

Patil opined that the improved air quality would boost the immune system of the people.

"It will improve the immune system of people, including those who have breathing problems like asthma," he said.

He asked the public to learn lessons from the lockdown and later switch to sustainable means of transport such as public transport, walking and cycling,.

"We can still reduce the pollution load even after the lockdown is over," Patil said.

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