Muddu Kanda' awards: Children's day-out at 'Vijaya Karnataka' office

Bengaluru, Jul 18: Bringing a major change in the  administration of Bengaluru, which has emerged as a Covid-19 hotspot, the state government on Saturday transferred B H Anil Kumar out of the BBMP and brought N Manjunath Prasad to take his place. 

Manjunath Prasad, who headed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) before being replaced by Kumar, will take over with immediate effect. The government has also placed him in concurrent charge of the Revenue Department as well as the Disaster Management, Bhoomi and UPOR.

Kumar, an Additional Chief Secretary, has been put in a place where earlier a secretary was posted. He now heads the Department of Public Enterprises. The posting would have brought him two spots down had it not been for the government upgrading it to the level of additional chief secretary. 

Anil Kumar, who was earlier praised for his work to contain the coronavirus pandemic, had faced criticism by the High Court of Karnataka for the BBMP's failure to help people in containment zones as well as other issues on the spread of the pandemic. 

Sources in the government said, pressure has been building up against Anil Kumar over the last two months after most of the Bengaluru MLAs complained to the chief minister's office.

"No MLA backed him. Everyone had a problem," a source said. 

Things came to the head with regard to a Rs 436 crore project given to KRIDL. "The issue reached the chief minister's office as all the MLAs took an issue with the way the project was awarded," a source said. 

Another source said that Kumar came under fire after a central team flagged the issue of failing Covid-19 surveillance measures in Bengaluru. The central team's criticism, it is widely believed in the government, came as the last straw. 

Bengaluru, Jan 23: City civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) levied a penalty of Rs 50,000 on the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) for using single-use plastic cups during the recent India-Australia one-day international match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

"Despite many awareness meetings, BBMP has found that single-use plastic cups were used during yesterday's cricket match and has fined KSCA Rs 50,000 as penalty," tweeted the civic body commissioner BH Anil Kumar.

The state cricket association treasurer Vinaya Mruthyunjaya said the civic body gave a general notice without detailed information on plastic use.

"We have been environmentally friendly for the last many years and at all gates, security has made sure no plastic or flex was allowed inside the stadium," Mruthyunjaya told media.

Mruthyunjaya said KSCA sought information from the civic body as to where the single-use plastic cups were found in the stadium during the India-Australia match.

On January 16, KSCA president Roger Binny inaugurated a plastic bottle shredder at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, in addition to other green initiatives at the cricket ground such as solar panels, sub-air system, biogas unit, rainwater harvesting and others. 

Similarly, in December 2019, BBMP cracked down on popular fast food eatery – Adyar Anand Bhavan in HSR Layout and fined the establishment Rs 1 lakh for plastic use.

In October, the BBMP fined eateries including McDonald's in central Bengaluru for using plastic.

Mangaluru, May 13: Dakshina Kannada today recorded its fourth death due to novel coronavirus.

The victim, identified by number P-536, is a 58-year-old woman from Boloor area of Manglauru. She was tested covid-19 positive on April 30. 

A patient with TB meningitis, the woman had been treated and discharged from Mangaluru’s First Neuro Hospital, which has emerged as covid-19 hub of coastal Karnataka.

In hospital she had reportedly come in contact with patient No 501 who worked as a sweeper in the same hospital. 

With this death, the number of active covid-19 cases reduced to 16 in Dakshina Kannada. The district has so far reported 34 covid-19 cases including four deaths. 14 have been discharged.