Bengaluru, Nov 20: B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government of Karnataka has decided to recommend the Union government to slap ban on the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), Karnataka tourism minister C T Ravi informed here on Wednesday.
Speaking to the media, he said that there was a suspicion that SDPI was behind the murderous attack on the former minister and Senior Congress MLAs, Tanveer Sait, who was battling for life in a private hospital in Mysuru.
Bengaluru, Apr 1: The price of petrol and diesel will go up by Rs 1.60 and Rs 1.59 per litre, respectively, from Wednesday. This is in line with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s decision to hike the rate of tax on petrol from 32% to 35% and diesel from 21% to 24%.
He had announced this in his March 5 Budget for 2020-21 fiscal. At present, a litre of petrol costs Rs 71.97 and diesel Rs 64.41 in Bengaluru.
The government decided to roll out the hike from Tuesday midnight going into Wednesday, April 1, after briefly considering a postponement in view of the COVID-19 crisis.
Finance Secretary (Budget & Resources) Ekroop Caur confirmed to DH that the hike will be rolled out.
The 3% hike on fuel tax was a key resource mobilisation measure that Yediyurappa announced in his Budget. The hike is expected to fetch the government Rs 1,500 crore.
Yediyurappa had also announced a 6% additional excise duty on Indian Made Liquor (IML), which could help the government mop up Rs 1,200 crore. However, the sale of liquor has been prohibited during the lockdown period. Plus, hiking fuel prices during the lockdown will not hit citizens very hard.
Abu Dhabi-based NMC Healthcare has reportedly received bids to sell its distribution unit and will soon be selling it to different parties.
The development comes over three months after NMC Healthcare’s founder and then-chairman B R Shetty stepped down amid allegations of massive fraud.
The company, which recently laid off hundreds of workers, is offloading stake in the subsidiary as it is considered non-core and requires substantially high working capital to run the operations. In addition, this stake sale will help the company pay off some of its debt
"There are parties who have strong interest in the distribution business. NMC will be offloading the unit soon and that also to different parties," a source said.
"The company is in the process of exploring options for NMC Trading, the group's distribution business, which it has determined to be non-core and requiring substantial levels of working capital. The process should not materially adversely impact distributors' activities, nor NMC Trading's customers," an NMC Healthcare spokeswoman said.
The UK-court has appointed Alvarez & Marsal as administrator to oversee the operations of the debt-ridden hospital operator. The healthcare firm has been caught in a whirlpool of $6.6 billion debt while its senior former high management team is under investigation for financial irregularities.
The UAE Central Bank has direct local banks to freeze all bank accounts of NMC founder BR Shetty and his family members as well as accounts of those companies where he has a stake. The Central Bank move is subsequent to a criminal complaint filed by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, which has the largest exposure to NMC Healthcare, amounting Dh3 billion.
As the company faces financial difficulties, Reuters reported that NMC Health delayed May staff salaries and now expects to complete making payments by the first week of June.
The spokeswoman said: "The company has been in regular dialogue with its creditor constituencies through various creditor committees, including the direct bank lenders to its NMC Trading businesses."
Bengaluru, Jun 22: Concerned over the increase in COVID-19 cases in the city, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday directed officials to implement lockdown measures strictly in the clusters which have reported more infections.
Yediyurappa held a meeting with Ministers and senior officials regarding containing COVID-19 in Bengaluru and said it can be achieved only if preventive measures are implemented strictly and asked the officials to work in this direction.
"Lockdown shall be implemented strictly in the clusters which reported more cases, especially, K.R. Market and surrounding areas such as Siddapura, VV Puram, Kalasipalya etc. It was decided to seal the adjoining streets, where the cases are reported, a release from the Chief Minister's office said. Stringent action would be taken against those who violate quarantine norms and FIR would be filed if necessary, it said.
Till Sunday evening, the state capital has reported 1,272 cases of COVID-19, including 64 deaths and 411 discharges. On Sunday, as many as 196 fresh cases were recorded. Officers were directed to ensure hygiene and provide other basic amenities to the people who were quarantined in the social welfare department's hostels and other government institutions.
"COVID-19 should be contained without affecting the economic activities in Bengaluru, which resumed recently," the Chief Minister said.
Noting that booth-level officers and volunteers were working to trace contacts and monitor quarantined persons, he said the COVID war room shall have real-time information on the availability of beds in various designated hospitals and facilitate treatment to the infected without loss of time.
A bulletin from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city civic body, said there were 298 active containment zones in the city. BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar along with the Chamarajpet Congress MLA B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan visited a few slum areas in the city to take stock of the COVID-19 situation, officials said.
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