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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, Jun 15: After a three-month delay, seven-time MLA and former state minister DK Shivakumar, who has been appointed as the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, will take charge on July 2 at a simple function at the new party office here.

Mr Shivakumar was appointed as KPCC president on March 11.

Party sources said on Monday that Shivakumar plans to take charge of the party through a “pratijna dina” (pledge day) ceremony that would be telecast live to 7,800 locations across the state and over 10 lakh party workers are expected to attend it virtually.

Shivamogga, May 12: Roopa Praveen Rao, an expectant mother and a nurse at a hospital in Shivamogga's Karnataka, has chosen to continue to serve the patients amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Rao who hails from Gajanuru village is nine months pregnant and works at Jayachamarajendra Government Hospital as a nurse.

She travels every day to Thirthahalli taluk to attend to the patients at the hospital.

"The taluk hospital is surrounded by many villages, people need our service. My seniors had asked me to take leave but I want to serve people. I work six hours a day," she told news agency.

She added that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa too called her up and appreciated her dedication and suggested that she should take rest.

Rao is one of the many frontline COVID-19 warriors who have been risking their lives to ensure that everyone stays safe as the country fights the coronavirus.