Madikeri, Dec 6: Three poachers were arrested on charges of hunting wild boar and the meat stored in their houses were seized, Karnataka Forest official said on Friday.
The arrested were identified as M P Kusha, M M Bhavan and P M Shashi from Ballamavati village.
Acting on a tip-off, the Forest department team conducted the raid on Thursday.
Mangaluru, Jan 1: Led by two local MLAs belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party, dozens of people today forcibly stopped toll fee collection at Talapady toll gate on the outskirts of the city allowing vehicles plying between Karnataka and Kerala on the national highway 66 to travel without paying any fee for some time.
Mangaluru City South MLA D Vedavyasa Kamath and Mangaluru City North MLA Y Bharat Shetty, who led the workers, said that the Navayuga Udupi Tollway Pvt. Ltd. (NUTPL), the concessionaire of the about 90-km-long highway widening project between Talapady and Kundapura in Karnataka, had failed to complete the project since over a decade.
The service roads and two flyovers under the project remained uncompleted. Hence motorists were facing a hardship. Notwithstanding Nalin Kumar Kateel, Dakshina Kannada MP, arranging ₹56 crore loan to the NUTPL through Axis Bank to complete the prominent Pumpwell flyover in the city, the company had failed to complete it.
The MLAs said that they stopped the toll collection as a symbolic protest to bring pressure on the company to complete the project within this month.
The BJP workers who gathered near the toll gate around 7.30 a.m. forcibly removed the barricades and made the vehicles ply without paying the fee. The workers of the company managing the toll booth did not resist.
The BJP workers said that vehicles would ply without paying toll till about 6 p.m. If the company resumed the collection during the day on Wednesday, the party workers would again forcibly stop it on Thursday, they said.
Shivaprasad Rai, in-charge of toll collection of the company at Talapady, Hejmady and Sasthana on the same highway told The Hindu that the NUTPL collected about ₹7 lakh as toll fee daily at Talapady from over 12,000 vehicles. The loss on Wednesday could be about ₹4 lakh.
The project is being implemented under build, operate and transfer basis.
Bengaluru, Mar 19: Medical Education Minister Dr Sudhakar on Wednesday said that the government is increasing the number of labs for COVID-19.
"For the last two months, screening has been done at airports. Quarantine is also being done. The situation was reviewed by the state cabinet. All passengers from abroad will be home quarantined or they can stay at government facilities or budget hotels or resorts or private hospitals," Sudhakar said in the Assembly.
"We have issued many advisories. Until 31st March, pubs, and hotels, religious events, should not have an assembly of more than 100 persons. Two bulletins will be issued twice a day. All those who arrive from abroad will be stamped that they have arrived from abroad. Covid-19 is growing at a phenomenal pace. We need not panic but we need to be cautious," he said.
Sudhakar continued: "There are 54 labs in the country. Karnataka has five labs, the most among all states. We are increasing the number of labs. In our country, we have tested less than 10 per cent. In Karnataka, we should conduct test on more people."
The minister said the government will devise a way to be able to track down all those home quarantined through their mobile phones.
"Karnataka stands fourth after Maharashtra, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. We are in the second stage. The next 2-3 weeks are detrimental. This is a pandemic situation. People have to also take responsibility. Social distancing is the real solution and key to eradicating this COVID-19. In the larger interest of the health of the state, we have to take drastic measures," he said.
"We are now in the 2nd stage. The next 3 weeks are very important. If we take care, the state can escape what's happening worldwide," he said.
Congress MLA UT Khader demanded action against those people who do not follow rules.
"Only shutting airports will not help. What about domestic passengers? Coronavirus must come under Ayushman Bharat. Keep isolated patients away from normal people in the ICU in government hospitals. Take action against those who do not follow the rules," he said.
Congress MLA Dr Yathindras said that screening is not enough and travelers need to be lab tested.
A total of 151 positive cases of coronavirus have been reported in India so far, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Wednesday.
Thirteen positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Karnataka till today.
Bengaluru, Feb 24: Wanted gangster Ravi Poojary, who was arrested in South Africa and brought to India, was on Monday sent to police custody till March 7 by a Bengaluru court.
First Additional City Magistrate V Jagdish, while sending Pujari to police custody, said that there should be no interference in the investigations.
The court also asked the police to record video and audio of the interrogation process.
Poojary, who was wanted in over 200 cases of serious crime including murder and extortion, was brought to India by a team of senior officials and arrived at the Kempegowda International Airport here.
Pujari was extradited from Senegal on February 22 pursuant to an extradition request made by India in early 2019.
"He is physically fit. Questioning will begin from tomorrow. He is supporting our investigation and answering questions," Additional Director-General of Police Amar Kumar Pandey told reporters here earlier today.
Poojary, who parted ways with underworld don Chhota Rajan had jumped bail after he was arrested in Senegal in 2019 and had escaped to South Africa, where he was involved in drug trafficking and extortion.
According to sources in the Indian intelligence, Ravi Pujari was hiding with a false identity of Anthony Fernandes, a Burkina Faso passport holder, in a remote village in South Africa.
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