Udupi, February 17: Lokayukta Santhosh Hegde has said that the progress achieved in the rehabilitation of flood-affected people in Northern Karnataka is only 10 to 20 percent.
He said that the inquiry assigned to the Lokayuktha on the Mining Scam and the KIADB scam would be completed in another five months.
Replying to another question from the media he said though there are only 1.2 crore BPL families in Karnataka, the state government has issued over 1.59 crore BPL cards.
Udupi, Apr 25: Senior RSS leader H Somashekhar Bhatt received a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday enquiring about his health.
Bhatt got emotional hearing the Prime Minister's voice at the other end, family sources said.
The Prime Minister called at 8.30 AM and began the conversation with 'Somashekharji' and spoke for about six minutes.
The 85-year-old veteran recalled how the Jana Sangh came to power in Udupi municipality under the leadership of V S Acharya in 1968 and about his association with the Sangh Parivar through the decades and his imprisonment during the Emergency.
Bhatt, former Udupi municipality president, later said it was a rare honour for him.
"I am very glad that PM Modi called and spoke to me. I shared the experience of meeting him at the Jaipur session.
Asked to take care of health and expressed concern," he said.
The Prime Minister has been calling senior functionaries of the party who worked for the Sangh Parivar in the time of adversities to build up the BJP in its present form and seeking advice from them.
He had also called in recent days former MLA Ram Bhat who was elected from Puttur in Dakshina Kannada and D H Shankar Murthy, who was former chairman of the state legislative council, BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel tweeted.
Bengaluru, Jan 30: There are around 3 lakh Bangladeshis across Karnataka and around 3,000 of them left Bengaluru following the recent crackdown, according to Bhaskar Rao, Bengaluru city police commissioner.
It's the first time a high-ranking official has put a number to Bangladeshis in Karnataka following the debate over the new citizenship law.
At a conclave on 'Construction Workers Safety, Health and Welfare' organised by the labour department and IIMB here, he said the estimate was arrived at based on information sourced from Bangladeshis deported recently.
There's been no study to ascertain the Bangladeshi population in the state, Rao said, adding that most illegal Bangladeshis in Bengaluru are victims of human trafficking.
"They come to Bengaluru for employment. Unlike other cities, Bengaluru has a lot of job potential and pays good salaries too. There are a lot of Bangladeshis working in the construction industry," Rao said.
Workers from Bangladesh demand lower wages. While other labourers demand around Rs 500 to Rs 600 per day, Bangladeshi workers don’t complain about being paid around Rs 100-150,” Rao said, adding that this has encouraged human traffickers to increasingly bring in Bangladeshis.
Suresh Hari, chairman, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, however, said they’re not aware of the nationality of their workers as contractors bring workers registered for tasks. “It’s difficult to say where they are from as there’s also construction work outside Credai’s purview,” Hari said.
Bengaluru, Feb 15: The Karnataka Legislative Assembly has decided to set aside two days - March 2 and 3 - for a special discussion over the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act continues across the country.
Assembly Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri told media persons here today that the Assembly would act as a platform for legislators to speak about the relevance of the Constitution and its contributions for the last seven decades. He had already held a round of discussions with senior legislators and all have expressed their willingness to participate in the debate. More details of the discussion would be worked out in the next few days after a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the House on February 18.
Asked whether it would be possible to have discussions rising above partisan politics in the present scenario, Mr. Kageri said “I have appealed to members to discuss the Constitution beyond the political prism.” Each member would be asked to speak on a specific topic of the Constitution.
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