Poet Nissar Ahmed honoured with ‘Pampa Award’

Bengaluru, Mar 3: Chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday introduced the Karnataka Municipalities and Certain Other Law (Amendment) Bill, 2020, in the assembly to give voters the opportunity to reject candidates in civic polls.

The bill, if passed, will enable election officials to offer the NOTA option in the elections to municipal corporations on the lines of assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

An amendment bill which seeks to enable the government to set up a separate university for the districts of Raichur and Yadgir was also tabled. The government said the workload of Gulbarga University necessitated creation of a separate university for the two districts, a move that will also help reduce regional imbalance in Kalyana Karnataka region.

Another amendment bill seeks to allow industrial units, which have failed to start operations on allotted land after seven years, to sell off the parcels to another unit. Bills which empower authorised agencies to regulate turf clubs and horse racing and regulate salary and pension of teachers in higher education institutions were also introduced in the assembly on Monday.

Kalaburagi, Mar 14: Utter negligence of Kalaburagi health department officials was one of the main reasons for the death of his father, alleged family member of Kalaburagi man and India's first COVID-19 victim here on Friday.

The victim's son said 'if officials of Kalaburagi health department had advised us to admit his father in isolated ward, which was opened in Gulbarga Institute of Medical science (GIMS), my father's survival time may have been extended,' he said.

Bengaluru, May 17: Left to itself, Karnataka will look to spring back towards normalcy under Lockdown 4.0 as the state government is on standby to resume public transport services from May 18, if the Centre allows it. 

Though KSRTC and BMTC have been preparing for resumption of services, officials in the two corporations told DH that they cannot make a move till the government makes a decision.

Transport Commissioner N Shivakumar said the department will take a decision based on the state government's orders. "The government will take a call on buses as well as taxi and other transport services," he said.

Senior officials in the state government said Deputy Chief Minister and Transport Minister Laxman Savadi has written to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari seeking a nod for resumption of the services. 

Transport Secretary Gaurav Gupta has written a separate letter to his counterpart in the Union government requesting permission to operate public transport. "The state government wants the services to open. The official has listed out the steps the corporations will take to ensure social distancing other steps that will be taken to check spread of Coronavirus," a source said.

The B S Yediyurappa administration has been bullish on easing lockdown restrictions. 

If the Centre empowers the states to define Lockdown 4.0, Karnataka is likely to do away with the red-orange-green zoning of districts and allow public services to resume, except in COVID-19 containment zones. The government is also likely to redefine its containment strategy by micromanaging localities where COVID-19 cases are reported, without letting life in an entire district get affected. 

The government has already shown willingness to allow hotels and gyms to open after May 17 subject to social distancing norms and restrictions. In fact, the government has proposed to allow the resumption of all economic activities in standalone establishments. The government, however, is not keen on opening malls, theatres, diners and establishments that have centralized air conditioning. 

“Everything depends on the Centre,” Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan said. “Our only stand is that the red zone should be treated at par with the other zone when it comes to relaxation.”