Bengaluru, Jun 4: The Special Investment Promotion Task Force, constituted by the Karnataka government, held its first meeting in Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru on Wednesday, June 3.
The first meeting of the task force was held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Karnataka government.
The body is seeking to find ways to attract the disenchanted multi-national corporations (MNCs) which are looking to shift their manufacturing base away from China in the back-drop of the COVID-19 outbreak.
New Delhi, May 8: After deadly styrene gas leak in Visakhapatnam, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister D V Sadananda Gowda urged all public and private chemical makers to exercise caution and care while reopening their plants.
Union Environment Ministry and State Pollution Control Boards have also issued separate directives to all companies to take extreme precaution while restarting their units that remained suspended due to the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country, he said.
There was a gas leak from LG Polymers plant at Visakhapatnam in the early hours on Thursday, causing 10 deaths and hundreds of people getting hospitalised.
"LG Polymers does not come under direct control of our ministry. However, we have asked all public and private chemicals manufacturers to exercise caution and care while reopening their plants," Gowda told PTI.
The minister said his officers are coordinating with the Andhra Pradesh government.
He further said LG Polymers, a multinational chemical company, had kept its unit ready for reopening after one and half month of lockdown. The unit started leaking at around 3.40 am on Thursday due to pressure.
"The toxic gas leak has affected both people and animals. Around 850 people have been hospitalised," Gowda said, adding that measures have been taken to control the situation at the plant site and final updates are awaited.
At present, Indian chemicals market size is about USD 163 billion, which is only three per cent of the global chemical industry of USD 5 trillion, as per the official data.
Bengaluru, Apr 14: The Congress in Karnataka on Tuesday welcomed the extention of the COVID-19 lockdown till May 3, though it flayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not announcing any programme to support the slowed down economy.
Reacting to the lockdown extension, Congress president D K Shivakumar said it was much needed to control the virus but expressed his displeasure for not offering any relief measure to uplift the economy which is witnessing slump.
"We had expectation that some package would be offered but that was not done. The manufacturing sector, service sector, agriculture sector and even the medical sector was looking for some relief but that was not the talking point of the Prime Minister," Shivakumar told reporters.
However, he maintained that the party would cooperate with the Centre in its fight against COVID-19.
Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah said he was "disappointed" that there was no programme announced to improve the economy, which is at the lowest level in 30 years.
"The economy has collapsed. Never ever in 30 years it had witnessed such a downfall. Industries are closing down.
Agriculture in bad shape. poeple have no money. Villages are in distress," the former chief minister said.
He opined that Modi should have make some announcement with regard to economic programmes and assistance to the weaker section.
"Labourers today are on the streets. Their programmes do not touch them. People had lots of expectations which are now meaningless," Siddaramaiah said.
However, he underlined that he does not oppose the lockdown and appealed to the people to support it wholeheartedly.
India on Sunday witnessed annual solar eclipse or 'surya grahan' 2020, the third eclipse even for this year after first two lunar eclipses took place in January and June and the last annual solar eclipse of this decade.
The solar eclipse started from around 9 a.m. across the Indian map as the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth came in a straight line, and the country witnessed the 'deepest' annular solar eclipse in over a century.
Astrologers said it a fourth super rare hybrid eclipse which is a mix between an annular and total solar eclipse.
Areas like Hyderabad, Chennai, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Delhi, Patna, Shillong and more witnessed a partial phase of the annular solar eclipse from 9 a.m.
In the eclipse, the distance of the Moon and Earth will be larger than usual which means the moon will not be able to cover up the sun fully and will leave out the borders of the sun - giving an appearance of a "Ring of Fire".
Press Information Bureau in a tweet informed that it is the last annular solar eclipse in India of this decade.
People can catch glimpse of the partially covered sun between 10 a.m. and 2.28 p.m. as per the time differing as locations in India. The eclipse will continue for over three hours covering 84 per cent Sun.
There are three types of solar eclipses - total, partial, and annular.
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